Doctors writing to landlords could improve poor housing conditions

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-10-07 02:00

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PHOTO: National Cancer Institute/Unsplash

Paediatricians offered to write letters to the landlords of New York City families living in poor conditions, encouraging the landowner to fix the substandard housing because of the underlying health consequences. Of the 35 families who took up the offer and gave the letter to their landlord, most said it led the landlord to take action, and almost 75 per cent reported that their concerns were completely resolved. The research team says putting the letter template into electronic health records allows for a quick intervention before resorting to more difficult solutions like moving or taking legal action.

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Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Epidemiologist and Senior Research Fellow, Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, is available to comment.

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Last updated: 05 Oct 2021 1:18pm

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Maimonides Medical Center, US; Maimonides Children's Hospital, US; SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, US

Funder: This research is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children Program, award number 6 H17MC28294-05-04.

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