Table 2.
Descriptive characteristics by residence in a food desert census tract in the REGARDS Study, 2003–2007a
| Participant characteristics | Not a food desert (n=16,294) |
Food desert (n=2,885) |
p-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age, y, mean (SD) | 64.9 (9.3) | 64.7 (9.1) | 0.29 |
| Sex, n (%) | <0.01 | ||
| Male | 7,287 (44.7) | 1,170 (40.6) | |
| Female | 9,007 (55.3) | 1,715 (59.5) | |
| Race, n (%) | <0.01 | ||
| Black | 4,921 (30.2) | 1,644 (57.0) | |
| White | 11,373 (69.8) | 1,241 (43.0) | |
| Income, n (%) | <0.01 | ||
| Less than $20k | 2,306 (14.2) | 707 (24.5) | |
| $20k–34k | 3,800 (23.3) | 781 (27.1) | |
| $35k–$74k | 5,224 (32.1) | 800 (27.7) | |
| $75k and above | 3,030 (18.6) | 273 (9.5) | |
| Refused | 1,934 (11.9) | 324 (11.2) | |
| Education, n (%) | <0.01 | ||
| Less than high school | 1,389 (8.5) | 437 (15.2) | |
| High School graduate | 8,453 (51.9) | 1,627 (56.4) | |
| College graduate or above | 6,452 (39.6) | 821 (28.5) | |
| Region, n (%) | <0.01 | ||
| Southeastb | 8,746 (53.7) | 1,887 (65.4) | |
| Outside the southeast | 7,548 (46.3) | 998 (34.6) | |
| RUCA, n (%) | 0.03 | ||
| Isolated or Small rural | 1,453 (8.9) | 258 (8.9) | |
| Large rural | 2,033 (12.5) | 310 (10.8) | |
| Urban | 12,808 (78.6) | 2,317 (80.3) | |
| Relationship Status, n (%) | <0.01 | ||
| Married | 10,236 (62.8) | 1,534 (53.2) | |
| Divorced | 2,232 (13.7) | 480 (16.6) | |
| Other | 276 (1.7) | 80 (2.8) | |
| Single | 817 (5.0) | 181 (6.3) | |
| Widowed | 2,733 (16.8) | 610 (21.1) |
a
There were 30,239 participants in the REGARDS study; 56 anomalies were excluded, 2,906 were excluded for missing geocodes, 8.090 for missing dietary information, and 8 for missing covariates, which left 19,179 for the current analysis. RUCA, rural-ruban commuting area; REGARDS, REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke
b
Southeast: Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina