Objectives. To examine whether subsidized housing, specifically public housing and rental assistance, is associated with asthma in the Boston, Massachusetts, adult population.
Methods. We analyzed a pooled cross-sectional sample of 9554 adults taking part in 3 Boston Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys from 2010 to 2015. We estimated odds ratios for current asthma in association with housing status (public housing development [PHD] resident, rental assistance [RA] renter, non-RA renter, nonrenter nonowner, homeowner as reference) in logistic regression analyses adjusting for year, age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, and income.
Results. The odds of current asthma were 2.02 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.35, 3.03) and 2.34 (95% CI = 1.60, 3.44) times higher among PHD residents and RA renters, respectively, than among homeowners. We observed smoking-related effect modification (interaction P = .04); elevated associations for PHD residents and RA renters remained statistically significant (P < .05) only among ever smokers. Associations for PHD residents and RA renters remained consistent in magnitude in comparison with non-RA renters who were eligible for subsidized housing according to income.
Conclusions. Public housing and rental assistance were strongly associated with asthma in this large cross-sectional sample of adult Boston residents.
- Amar J. Mehta, Daniel P. Dooley, and Snehal N. Shah are with the Research and Evaluation Office, Boston Public Health Commission, Boston, MA. John Kane is with the Boston Housing Authority. Margaret Reid is with the Office of Health Equity, Boston Public Health Commission.
