ABSTRACT
It is now well documented that fuel poverty has a number of adverse health impacts, especially on the elderly. Chronic exposure to low ambient temperatures in the home resulting from fuel poverty often leads to a physiological condition in humans known as cold strain. While short episodes of cold stress are unlikely to cause serious adverse health impacts among the young and healthy, such physiological effects are damaging to the cardiovascular and respiratory system of the elderly, and may exacerbate current ill health or diminish resistance to infections in healthy persons (Collins, 1986). At worst, chronic cold strain can result in fatal conditions and premature mortality. It is, perhaps, unsurprising that Ireland and the UK have the highest levels of seasonal mortality in Europe (Clinch and Healy, 1999a). Much of these excess winter deaths have been associated with inadequate protection from indoor cold stress and fuel poverty more generally (Clinch and Healy, 2000c, Euro winter Group, 1997).1 In addition, research presented in Chapter 7 has shown that fuel-poor households persistently report lower levels of health status using objective and subjective outcome measures. The variation in health appears to be most acute for chronic diseases of the respiratory system and long-term depression.
