Skip to main content
. 2024 Mar 29;24:921. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-18284-5

Table 2.

Associations between various demographic characteristics of participants in the Effects of Physical Activity Calorie Expenditure (PACE) Food Labeling research study (2015–2017) and their average HEI-2015 meal score (n = 378)

Characteristic Healthy Eating Index-2015 Meal Score
Mean (Standard Deviation)
p-value
Age group 0.09
 Age < 45 46.6 (7.0)
 Age ≥ 45 47.8 (6.5)
Sex 0.13
 Female 46.7 (6.0)
 Male 48.3 (9.0)
Race < 0.001*
 Asian 51.5 (9.0)
 Other 48.1 (5.4)
 White 47.8 (7.1)
 Black 45.7 (5.8)
Education level < 0.001
 High school 44.6 (5.8)
 Technical school/Associates degree 46.3 (6.6)
 College graduate 47.0 (6.5)
 Master’s degree+ 49.1 (7.2)
Current smoker < 0.001
 Yes 41.9 (7.3)
 No 47.4 (6.7)
Adequatea numeracy level 0.008
 Yes 47.9 (6.8)
 No 46.0 (6.6)
Adequateb health literacy level 0.005
 Yes 47.8 (6.4)
 No 45.6 (7.4)
Self-reported health status 0.047
 Excellent/very good 47.9 (7.2)
 Good 46.1 (6.5)
 Fair/poor 46.5 (4.6)
Total yearly household income < 0.001§
 $25,000-$49,999 44.9 (6.1)
 $50,000-$99,999 47.1 (6.6)
 $100,000+ 49.1 (7.0)
Occupation description 0.006
 Administration/clerical 46.0 (5.3)
 Customer service/sales 45.3 (7.3)
 Financial/technical 48.0 (6.6)
 Management 48.2 (7.2)
Physical activity level (minutes per week) < 0.001#
 1–0-59 44.5 (5.4)
 2–60-149 47.7 (5.9)
 3–150-299 46.4 (7.2)
 4–300+ 50.5 (6.0)
Body mass index (kg/m2) 0.18
 <25 47.9 (6.5)
 25.1–29.9 47.9 (7.2)
 ≥30 46.5 (6.1)
High blood pressure 0.86
 Yes 47.2 (5.9)
 No 47.0 (7.0)
High cholesterol 0.87
 Yes 47.2 (7.5)
 No 47.1 (6.6)
History diabetes 0.96
 Yes 47.0 (6.6)
 No 47.1 (6.8)

a 2 or 3 correct out of 3 items

b 5 correct out of 6 items

* Significant comparisons: White – Black; Black- Asian

Significant comparisons: High school – Master’s +; Tech school/Assoc. deg. – Master’s +

Significant comparisons: Excellent/very good – Good

§ Significant comparisons: All pairwise

Significant comparisons: Customer services/sales-Management; Financial/technical-Management

# Significant comparisons: Physical activity level 1–2; 1–4; 3–4