Washington State residents who felt unsure or stressed about their housing situation were nearly twice as likely as those who did not feel unsure or stressed to delay doctor visits because of cost - and to report poor or fair health status, according to a report from the Washington State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Data from 8,415 people responding to the 2011 Washington State Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were used to assess the frequency of housing insecurity, which was defined as respondents answering "always," "usually," or "sometimes" to "How often in the past 12 months would you say you were worried or stressed about having enough money to pay your rent/mortgage?"
Among all Washington respondents, 29.4 percent reported housing insecurity. Among those respondents, 33.3 percent also reported delaying doctor visits because of costs, 26.9 percent were current smokers, and 26.3 percent had poor or fair health.
People who felt housing insecure were more likely to smoke than people who did not feel insecure about housing. The housing insecure also were nearly six times as likely as those who were not insecure to delay doctor visits due to cost.
The study has been published in