What are the effects of energy poverty and interventions to ameliorate it on people's health and well-being?: A scoping review with an equity lens

Abstract

Several studies have shown how energy poverty (EP) increases morbidity and mortality, being a growing problem worldwide. We conducted a scoping review to synthesize the state of knowledge on the relationship between energy poverty (EP) and health, analysing the results according to different axes of inequality (gender, age, ethnicity/country of birth, social class, territory). We searched different bibliographic databases (MeSH and free-text terms); Eligibility criteria: 1] studies or interventions related to EP or its different expressions (inadequate temperatures; financial strain, inadequate housing conditions, composite indicators, heating and energy efficiency improvements); 2] health or health risk outcomes; 3] OECD countries; 4] English or Spanish language; 5] published before July 2020. We selected 38 studies out of 2768 (23 observational and 15 interventions). Almost all were quantitative (89.5%) and almost half were conducted in the UK (47.4%). The most studied EP expression was inadequate temperature. Eleven studies disaggregate the analyses by at least one axis of inequality and 21 target a vulnerable group. The studies linked EP to poorer general health, poorer mental health, poorer respiratory health, more and worse controlled chronic conditions, higher mortality, higher use of health services and higher exposure to health risks, with worse results for vulnerable groups across dimensions of inequality. Current scientific evidence should guide structural changes and immediate interventions to ameliorate EP. Future research must take into account the effects of inadequate warm temperatures and social inequalities, especially in the current context of climate and social crisis, the latter being exacerbated by the covid-19 pandemic.