Table 1.
Characteristics of the Study Sample
| Overall | Food insufficiency* | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total, N = 966 % (SE)† | Yes, N = 235 % (SE)† | No, N = 700 % (SE)† | P value‡ | |
| Sociodemographics | ||||
| Age, ≥50 years | 19.5 (1.3) | 16.0 (2.5) | 20.1 (1.7) | 0.25 |
| Sex, male | 58.2 (4.5) | 58.5 (9.5) | 57.7 (4.3) | 0.93 |
| Race | 0.01 | |||
| White, non-Hispanic | 39.2 (4.2) | 44.7 (7.6) | 37.9 (6.0) | |
| Black, non-Hispanic | 38.1 (5.8) | 25.9 (5.3) | 43.6 (7.1) | |
| Hispanic | 16.1 (2.6) | 22.9 (7.0) | 14.4 (2.1) | |
| Other | 5.3 (1.2) | 6.6 (2.5) | 4.1 (1.4) | |
| Region | 0.88 | |||
| Northeast | 15.9 (3.3) | 16.1 (4.5) | 16.3 (3.2) | |
| South | 17.2 (5.8) | 21.3 (9.9) | 16.6 (5.4) | |
| Midwest | 43.3 (8.4) | 39.9 (11.2) | 45.5 (7.7) | |
| West | 23.7 (9.0) | 22.7 (8.9) | 21.6 (8.2) | |
| High school diploma or higher | 58.7 (2.7) | 49.5 (4.0) | 61.4 (3.2) | 0.01 |
| Veteran | 11.5 (1.1) | 11.8 (2.9) | 11.3 (1.1) | 0.88 |
| Employed, past year | 54.5 (3.7) | 54.1 (4.2) | 55.3 (4.2) | 0.75 |
| Uninsured | 59.5 (5.4) | 61.6 (6.3) | 59.6 (5.6) | 0.73 |
| Homeless characteristics | ||||
| Chronically homeless | 35.3 (3.2) | 45.5 (6.2) | 31.7 (3.5) | 0.01 |
| Physical/sexual assault, past year | 20.1 (2.8) | 37.5 (7.1) | 14.5 (1.9) | 0.001 |
| Mental health | ||||
| Serious emotional problems, past year | 55.6 (3.5) | 59.8 (8.6) | 54.7 (3.6) | 0.57 |
| Alcohol/drug problem, past year | 65.3 (4.3) | 67.8 (6.0) | 67.0 (4.6) | 0.90 |
| Physical health | ||||
| Fair/poor health status | 47.9 (2.6) | 53.2 (4.6) | 45.0 (3.4) | 0.18 |
| Medical comorbidities§ | 0.23 | |||
| 0 | 22.2 (2.5) | 16.5 (4.5) | 24.9 (2.9) | |
| 1 | 31.2 (2.5) | 27.1 (6.4) | 32.9 (2.4) | |
| ≥2 | 45.9 (4.0) | 56.4 (10.0) | 42.3 (3.2) | |
| Overweight/obese║ | 57.7 (4.5) | 51.0 (8.8) | 62.0 (3.5) | 0.09 |
Data source: 2003 Health Care for the Homeless User Survey, Health Resources and Services Administration
SE, standard error
*Defined as ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ not getting enough food to eat. Thirty-one adults (3.6%) had missing or indeterminate responses for the food insufficiency item
†Percentages are weighted using analysis weights provided by Research Triangle Institute, International. Percentages are expressed as a function of column totals and may not sum to 100 within categories because of rounding or item non-response.
‡P value for chi-square test comparing food insufficient and food sufficient respondents on each characteristic
§Medical comorbidities included hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease (coronary artery disease or stroke), obstructive lung disease (asthma or COPD), HIV infection, cancer, kidney disease, liver disease, and arthritis or chronic joint problems
║Defined as body mass index ≥25 kg/m2