Claudio Sartini1, Peter Tammes2, Alastair D Hay2, Ian Preston3, Daniel Lasserson4, Peter H Whincup5, S Goya Wannamethee6, Richard W Morris2. 1. Department of Primary Care & Population Health, University College London, UK. Electronic address: c.sartini@ucl.ac.uk. 2. Centre for Academic Primary Care, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, UK. 3. Centre for Sustainable Energy, Bristol, UK. 4. Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, UK. 5. Population Health Research Institute, St George's University of London, UK. 6. Department of Primary Care & Population Health, University College London, UK.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Living in a cold home increases the risk of dying in winter, especially in older people. However, it is unclear which individual factors predict whether older people are living in cold homes. METHODS: Thousand four hundred two men aged 74-95 years from a U.K. population-based study reported difficulties in keeping warm during winter, answering four simple "yes/no" questions. Associations between individual's characteristics and each of the four self-reported measures of cold homes were estimated using logistic regression models. Next, we investigated whether measures of cold homes predict mortality over the subsequent 2.1 years. RESULTS: Manual social class, difficulties making ends meet, and not being married were each associated (P < .05) with each of the four measures of cold homes (adjusted odds ratios ranged from 1.61 to 4.68). Social isolation, poor respiratory health, and grip strength were also associated with reports of cold homes. Hundred twenty-six men died; those who reported the presence of at least three measures cold homes had increased mortality (adjusted hazard ratios 2.85 [95% confidence interval, 1.11-7.30, P = .029]). CONCLUSIONS: Older people who find it hard to keep warm in winter, and have an elevated mortality, could be identified using a self-report questionnaire.
PURPOSE: Living in a cold home increases the risk of dying in winter, especially in older people. However, it is unclear which individual factors predict whether older people are living in cold homes. METHODS: Thousand four hundred two men aged 74-95 years from a U.K. population-based study reported difficulties in keeping warm during winter, answering four simple "yes/no" questions. Associations between individual's characteristics and each of the four self-reported measures of cold homes were estimated using logistic regression models. Next, we investigated whether measures of cold homes predict mortality over the subsequent 2.1 years. RESULTS: Manual social class, difficulties making ends meet, and not being married were each associated (P < .05) with each of the four measures of cold homes (adjusted odds ratios ranged from 1.61 to 4.68). Social isolation, poor respiratory health, and grip strength were also associated with reports of cold homes. Hundred twenty-six men died; those who reported the presence of at least three measures cold homes had increased mortality (adjusted hazard ratios 2.85 [95% confidence interval, 1.11-7.30, P = .029]). CONCLUSIONS: Older people who find it hard to keep warm in winter, and have an elevated mortality, could be identified using a self-report questionnaire.