Objective: The primary aim of this research was to assess radon awareness and testing
across 2 housing types. Design and Sample: 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: OR52.18; confidence intervals [CI]52.01–2.36) (1998: OR52.26; CI52.09–2.44) and also more likely to know if their household air had been tested for radon (1994: OR52.04; CI51.57–2.65) (1998: OR51.38; CI51.19–1.59) 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.
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