Poor housing conditions in association with child health in a disadvantaged immigrant population: a cross-sectional study in Rosengård, Malmö, Sweden

Objectives: To describe the home environment in terms of housing conditions and their association with child health in a disadvantaged immigrant population. Design: A cross-sectional observational study. Setting: Enrolment took place during 2010–2011 in Rosengård, Malmö, Sweden. Participants: Children aged 0–13 years in 2 study neighbourhoods were recruited from local health records and from schools. 359 children participated, with a participation rate of 40%. Data on health, lifestyle and apartment characteristics from questionnaire-led interviews with the mothers of the children were obtained together with data from home inspections carried out by trained health communicators. Outcome measures: Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate ORs for various health outcomes, adjusted for demographic information and lifestyle factors. Results: The housing conditions were very poor, especially in one of the study neighbourhoods where 67% of the apartments had been sanitised of cockroac...