Background: Adequate housing and infrastructure are foundational for accessing Healthy Living Practices (HLPs) and leading a healthy life. Likewise, inadequate housing and HLP capacity translates into poor health and wellbeing outcomes, and especially high rates of infectious disease. This association is inherently accepted. However, there are no agreed mechanisms for evaluation or longitudinal monitoring tools to measure health outcomes associated with inadequate housing or housing improvement initiatives.
Methods: A systematic review of infectious disease (ID) endpoints used to measure health outcomes associated with inadequate housing in Australia was conducted. ID endpoints and housing variables were classified by body systems and the HLPs, respectively. Sources of health and housing exposure data were also recorded.
Results: We identified 80 studies that have used 171 ID endpoints and tested over 550 ID-housing/HLP associations. Most research has focused on remote Indigenous communities where the impacts of inadequate housing are acute. IDs affecting the skin, respiratory and digestive systems were the most frequent endpoint measures. IDs affecting ears and eyes were also common. The quality of studies was generally poor and there was an overreliance on intensive data collection within research frameworks. Primary care data was underutilised.
Conclusion: The integration of ID diagnoses into an indicator/tool validated in communities and grounded in primary care would support Indigenous community-controlled organisations to collect, compare and communicate data about housing and health.