Identifying diagnosed major chronic diseases associated with recent housing instability among aging adults: data from the 'All of Us' research program.

Background: Housing instability is a known barrier to healthcare utilization potentially affecting the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases among diverse groups of adults. We examined the intersection of recent housing instability with prevalent cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and psychiatric diagnoses among aging adults.

Methods: Cross-sectional data on 147 465 participants of the 'All of Us' Research Program (6 May 2018-1 July 2022), ≥50 years of age at enrollment, were analyzed. Self-reported housing instability over the past 6 months was examined in relation to diagnosed conditions at age ≥50 years based on electronic health records. Multivariable logistic regression models sequentially adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics were constructed to estimate odds ratios (OR) with their 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Results: After adjusting for confounders, past 6 months housing instability was associated with lower odds of diagnosed cardiovascular disease (OR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.87, 0.93) and cancer (OR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.78, 0.86), higher odds of diagnosed psychiatric (OR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.30, 1.40) conditions, but was unrelated to diagnosed diabetes (OR = 0.98, 95% CI: 0.94, 1.01).

Conclusions: Recent housing instability among aging adults is positively associated with psychiatric diagnoses, but negatively associated with cardiovascular and cancer diagnoses, with implications for chronic disease prevention.