The Association between Residence Floor Level and Cardiovascular Disease: The Health and Environment in Oslo Study

Mads K Rohde,Geir Aamodt

doi:10.1155/2016/2951658

Mads K Rohde, Geir Aamodt

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/2951658

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Abstract

Background. Increasingly more people live in tall buildings and on higher floor levels. Factors relating to floor level may protect against or cause cardiovascular disease (CVD). Only one previous study has investigated the association between floor level and CVD. Methods. We studied associations between floor of bedroom and self-reported history of stroke, venous thromboembolism (VTE), and intermittent claudication (IC) among 12.525 inhabitants in Oslo, Norway. We fitted multivariate logistic regression models and adjusted for sociodemographic variables, socioeconomic status (SES), and health behaviors. Additionally, we investigated block apartment residents (N = 5.374) separately. Results. Trend analyses showed that disease prevalence increased by floor level, for all three outcomes. When we investigated block apartment residents alone, the trends disappeared, but one association remained: higher odds of VTE history on 6th floor or higher, compared to basement and 1st floor (OR: 1.504; 95% CI: 1.007–2.247). Conclusion. Floor level is positively associated with CVD, in Oslo. The best-supported explanation may be residual confounding by building height and SES. Another explanation, about the impact of atmospheric electricity, is also presented. The results underline a need to better understand the associations between residence floor level and CVD and multistory housing and CVD.

Highlights

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) constitutes a major public health burden and is the greatest cause of mortality globally
More current smokers lived above the 4th floor (18.8–21.2%) than on lower floors (14.5–15.5%), the highest proportion of obese individuals lived on the 6th–10th floor (15.6%), and the most sedentary ones lived on the 6th floor or higher
A protective crude association appeared when we investigated block apartment residents separately (Table 5): residing on the 4th-5th floor was associated with significantly lower odds of having experienced intermittent claudication (IC) compared to those in the lowest floor category (OR: 0.633; 95% CI: 0.444–0.904), but the association did not remain significant in the adjusted analyses (OR: 0.796; 95% CI: 0.551–1.151)

Summary

Introduction

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) constitutes a major public health burden and is the greatest cause of mortality globally. In a Swiss study, including the entire population of block apartment residents, Panczak and coworkers [18] found that stroke and general CVD mortality decreased by increasing floor levels. One study by Wolinsky and coworkers [19] found significant associations between living in multistory buildings and development of stroke in an elderly population but did not investigate whether incidence rates were related to floor level. We studied associations between floor of bedroom and self-reported history of stroke, venous thromboembolism (VTE), and intermittent claudication (IC) among 12.525 inhabitants in Oslo, Norway. When we investigated block apartment residents alone, the trends disappeared, but one association remained: higher odds of VTE history on 6th floor or higher, compared to basement and 1st floor (OR: 1.504; 95% CI: 1.007–2.247).

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