Résumé :
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[BDSP. Notice produite par INIST-CNRS HR0xk9o8. Diffusion soumise à autorisation]. Objective : To assess the effect of a publicly funded domestic heating programme on self-reported health. Design, setting and participants : A prospective controlled study of 1281 households in Scotland receiving new central heating under a publicly funded initiative, and 1084 comparison households not receiving new heating. The main outcome measures were self-reported diagnosis of asthma, bronchitis, eczema, nasal allergy, heart disease, circulatory problems or high blood pressure ; number of primary care encounters and hospital contacts in the past year ; and SF-36 Health Survey scores. Results : Usable data were obtained from 61.4% of 3849 respondents originally recruited. Heating recipients reported higher scores on the SF-36 Physical Functioning scale (difference 2.51 ; 95% Cl 0.67 to 4.37) and General Health scale (difference 2.57 ; 95% Cl 0.90 to 4.34). They were less likely to report having received a first diagnosis of heart disease (OR 0.69 ; 95% Cl 0.52 to 0.91) or high blood pressure (OR 0.77 ; 95% Cl 0.61 to 0.97), but the groups did not differ significantly in use of primary care or hospital services. Conclusions : Provision of central heating was associated with significant positive effects on general health and physical functioning ; however, effect sizes were small. Evidence of a reduced risk of first diagnosis with heart disease or high blood pressure must be interpreted with caution, due to the self-reported nature of the outcomes, the limited time period and the failure to detect any difference in health service use.
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