Report of the Systematic Review on the Effect of Household Crowding on Health

This report assesses the relationship of household crowding to various health effects. A systematic review of this topic was conducted to support the development of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Housing and health guidelines. The aim of this systematic review is to provide the best available evidence from existing research to contribute to the deliberations of the Guideline Development Group (GDG).

After a short background section, this report provides information on the population, exposure, comparator and outcomes (PECOs) and the eligibility criteria for the systematic review, which were agreed upon and approved by the WHO. This is followed by information on the search strategy and methods that were used to identify and summarize potentially relevant studies; and a discussion of the findings of the reviews. The report contains appendices detailing the search strategies for various data sources, the GRADE evidence profiles and summary of findings tables, and the list of excluded studies and the corresponding reasons.

Last modified: April 21, 2020

Language: English