Housing and health in Europe: preliminary results of a pan-European study.

OBJECTIVES The World Health Organization's Regional Office for Europe has undertaken a large study to evaluate housing and health in 7 European cities. METHODS Survey tools were used to obtain information about housing and living conditions, health perception, and health status from a representative sample of the population in each city. RESULTS In Forli, Italy, the first city studied, preliminary findings indicate some important potential links between housing and health. CONCLUSIONS These findings, when combined with those from the remaining European cities, will likely generate concrete recommendations for the allocation of resources to programs that can improve housing and health.