Influence of residential indoor environment on self-rated health in China: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

The residential indoor environment and health have received increasing public interest recently. To improve knowledge of impacts of the residential indoor environment on health status of inhabitants, a Chinese Residential Indoor Environment and Health (CRIEH) survey was conducted from March 2014 to June 2014, and provided the information on 7934 residents in ten provinces and two municipalities. Results showed that prominent indoor environmental issues of households reporting were: “thermal problems in summer” (55%) in the living room; “low humidity in winter” (51%) in the bedroom; “odor” (39%) in the kitchen; “thermal problems in winter” (52%) in the toilet. Moreover, there were significant associations between indoor environment components and self-reported health. The largest association coefficient was found between safety and overall health (0.40). There was a relatively large association coefficient between safety and chronic pain such as joint pain (0.31) and lower back pain (0.29). Allergies had a relatively large coefficient with indoor air quality (0.36). Furthermore, significant associations with the overall indoor environment quality were found for self-reported health even after adjusting for personal characteristics. This study will promote understanding of the complex relationships between the residential indoor environment and occupants’ health in China.