Householder status and residence type as correlates of radon awareness and testing behaviors.
OBJECTIVE
The primary aim of this research was to assess radon awareness and testing across 2 housing types.


METHODS
Cross-sectional prevalence study with time trends. National, probabilistic sample of 18,138 and 29,632 respondents from the 1994 and 1998 National Health Interview Surveys, respectively.


RESULTS
Odds ratio (OR) estimates confirmed that occupants of single family homes/townhomes were twice as likely to have ever heard of radon (1994: OR=2.18; confidence intervals [CI]=2.01-2.36) (1998: OR=2.26; CI=2.09-2.44) and also more likely to know if their household air had been tested for radon (1994: OR=2.04; CI=1.57-2.65) (1998: OR=1.38; CI=1.19-1.59) as occupants of apartments/condominiums. Time trend analyses revealed that radon awareness improved from 69.4% to 70.7% and home testing among those with knowledge of radon increased from 9.7% to 15.5% over the 4-year period.


CONCLUSIONS
Housing type provided fairly stable estimates of radon awareness and testing. Findings demonstrate that housing status may be a useful variable to differentiate risk for radon awareness and testing. Public health nurses should consider their client's housing type when assessing families for environmental risks.
Larsson
Laura S
LS
Sherrick Hall, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA. llarsson@montana.edu
Hill
Wade G
WG
Odom-Maryon
Tamara
T
Yu
Paul
P
D001364:Awareness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006798:Housing; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011886:Radon / Q000032:analysis*; D012923:Social Class
D011886:Radon
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