Food insecurity among New York City taxi and for-hire vehicle drivers.
Francesca M Gany, Nujbat Nasim Meraji, Bharat Narang and 2 others
PMID 36530123WHAT IT FOUND
Nearly four in ten New York City taxi drivers were food insecure.
Insecurity linked to higher stress, depression history, and skipped medical visits. Drivers whose income failed to meet basic needs had significantly lower odds of being food secure.
Key findings
0139.2% of the drivers were food insecure.
02Food insecure drivers were significantly less likely to have seen a doctor in the past year (25% vs 48%).
03Drivers reporting their household income was enough to meet basic needs had significantly lower odds of being food insecure (OR 0.695).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample was drawn from drivers attending health fairs for specific research studies, meaning those with high blood pressure or no primary care provider were oversampled, which may not represent all drivers. Food insecurity was measured with a 2-item screener that has lower specificity than longer tools, potentially overestimating prevalence. Health conditions like diabetes and depression were self-reported in a population with limited healthcare access, raising the possibility of underreporting. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot prove that food insecurity caused the observed health differences, only that they are associated.
Declared interests
The authors report no relevant conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the lower rate of diagnosed diabetes among food insecure drivers means they are healthier. The authors suggest this likely reflects underdiagnosis because these drivers had significantly less access to medical care.