Homes, Heat and Healthy Kids

Our project examines how different ways of making homes warmer affect children’s respiratory health. Results will be used to inform housing and net zero policies in Scotland. 

Research Focus

Respiratory infections are the main reason for hospital admission in preschool children and are associated with cold, damp housing. Childhood respiratory infections have lifelong consequences, increasing the risk of asthma and premature adult death. In Scotland, at least 1 in 5 households struggle to heat their homes. We do not yet know how many preschool respiratory infections could be prevented by tackling underheating.

The Scottish Government are carrying out measures such as installing insulation or replacing a boiler to try to make homes easier to heat. However, as well as keeping warm air in, some measures also trap in mould, smoke and air pollution, potentially increasing the risk of respiratory infections.

For the first time, we can now link data on a child’s health with every home they have ever lived in across Scotland. This means we can look at the link between housing and children’s health in more detail than ever before. This study is creating a new anonymous dataset linking electronic health records with data on home energy efficiency and energy use, smart meters, high street banking, air pollution and climate. 

Project Aims

• To find out whether home energy efficiency improvements reduce respiratory infections in preschool children.
• To identify which types of energy efficiency intervention (e.g., insulation or heating upgrades) are associated with the greatest health benefits.
• To understand whether the impacts of home energy efficiency are felt equally, or whether some children, e.g., those in the most deprived areas or with existing health conditions, might gain more.
• To build reusable methodology and whole-population data infrastructure linking health, housing, and energy records, with the potential to support research beyond the project.
• To ensure the evidence generated is usable for both policymakers and families living with cold homes and to the policymakers.

Linking data sources

Child-level

• Scottish Linked Pregnancy and Baby Dataset (SLiPBD)
• Census 2011 and 2022
• SMR-01 Hospital admission records for respiratory illness
• Prescribing data for respiratory medication
• GP records (Lothian only, via DataLoch)
• Child Health Surveillance Programme 
• Scottish Immunisation & Recall System

Property-level

• Domestic Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) records. 
• Annual Electricity and Gas Consumption, Scotland (AEGCS).
• Home Energy Efficiency Database (HEED), giving dated records of past interventions
• Scottish Housing Conditions Survey

Area-level

• Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD).
• DEFRA Air Pollution data.
• CEDA Climate data.
• Smart Data Foundry high street banking data
• uZero Fuel Poverty Risk Score (derived from prepayment smart meters)

Lookup and linkage

• CHI-UPRN linkage, connecting each child's health record to the home they live in