ArticleJournal of epidemiology and community health2012
The impact of housing improvement and socio-environmental factors on common childhood illnesses: a cohort study in Indigenous Australian communities.
Article in Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Treatment, prevention and public health management of impetigo, scabies, crusted scabies and fungal skin infections in endemic populations: a systematic review.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2019Pooled it
- Housing improvements for health and associated socio-economic outcomes.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- Whole genome sequencing reveals extensive community-level transmission of group A Streptococcus in remote communities.Epidemiology and infection · 2016Trial
- Infectious disease outcomes associated with inadequate housing and access to healthy living practices in Australia: a systematic review.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Benchmarking Environmental Health Influences on Food Security in Very Remote Indigenous Communities in Australia: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Healthy Homes: Repairs and Maintenance in Remote Northern Territory Housing.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Repurposing antibiotic resistance surveillance data to support treatment of recurrent infections in a remote setting.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Culturally supported health promotion to See, Treat, Prevent (SToP) skin infections in Aboriginal children living in the Kimberley region of Western Australia: a qualitative analysis.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2023Article
- Overcrowding and Hazardous Dwelling Condition Characteristics: A Systematic Search and Scoping Review of Relevance for Health.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Article
- The Benefits of Rental Assistance for Children's Health and School Attendance in the United States.Demography · 2021Article
- Prioritizing Built Environmental Factors to Tackle Chronic and Infectious Diseases in Remote Northern Territory (NT) Communities of Australia: A Concept Mapping Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Relocating to a new or pre-existing social housing unit: significant health improvements for Inuit adults in Nunavik and Nunavut.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2020Observational
- Barriers and Enablers of Health Service Utilisation for Childhood Skin Infections in Remote Aboriginal Communities of Western Australia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- The Relationship between Infectious Diseases and Housing Maintenance in Indigenous Australian Households.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Review
- Article
- Soil-Transmitted Helminths in Children in a Remote Aboriginal Community in the Northern Territory: Hookworm is Rare but Strongyloides stercoralis and Trichuris trichiura Persist.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2017Article
- The impact of health promotion on trachoma knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP) of staff in three work settings in remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2017Article
- Assessing the environmental context of hand washing among school children in Limpopo, South Africa.Water international · 2017Article
- Impact of housing improvement and the socio-physical environment on the mental health of children's carers: a cohort study in Australian Aboriginal communities.BMC public health · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundImprovements in health are an important expected outcome of many housing infrastructure programs. The authors aimed to determine if improvement in the notoriously poor housing infrastructure in Australian Indigenous communities results in reduction in common childhood illness and to identify important mediating factors in this relationship.
methodsThe authors conducted a prospective cohort study of 418 children aged 7 years or younger in 10 Australian Indigenous communities, which benefited most substantially from government-funded housing programs over 2004-2005. Data on functional and hygienic state of houses, reports of common childhood illness and on socio-economic conditions were collected through inspection of household infrastructure and interviews with children's carers and householders.
resultsAfter adjustment for a range of potential confounding variables, the analysis showed no consistent reduction in carers' reporting of common childhood illnesses in association with improvements in household infrastructure, either for specific illnesses or for these illnesses in general. While there was strong association between improvement in household infrastructure and improvement of hygienic condition of the house, there were only marginal improvements in crowding.
conclusionsHigh levels of household crowding and poor social, economic and environmental conditions in many Australian Indigenous communities appear to place major constraints on the potential for building programs to impact on the occurrence of common childhood illness. These findings reinforce the need for building programs to be supported by a range of social, behavioural and community-wide environmental interventions in order for the potential health gains of improved housing to be more fully realised.
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