Amad Tajrian, Valera Pamela, Sackey Joachim, Baquerizo Humberto, Malarkey Sarah, Acevedo Sebastian
Rutgers University School of Public Health, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Piscataway, NJ, United States.
Community Health Justice Lab (www.chjl.org), Newark, NJ, United States.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2025 Apr;12(2):1012-1020. doi: 10.1007/s40615-024-01937-x. Epub 2024 Mar 11.
The COVID-19 pandemic's economic fallout has further exacerbated the health and well-being among Hispanics/Latinos, who maybe overrepresented in essential job industries and are vulnerable to experiencing food insecurity. This study explores whether the COVID-19 pandemic affected food security status differently among Latino/Hispanic essential and non-essential workers in the United States.
The COVID-19 Latino health cross-sectional survey was conducted and administered in person and virtually. Bivariate analyses and chi-square tests were performed to investigate the association between essential worker status and changes in food security status during the COVID-19 pandemic. All reported p-values were two-sided; p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Of the 869 Hispanic/Latino respondents, 393 (45%) were deemed essential workers, and 476 (55%) were non-essential workers. About 22% of essential workers reported a household income of less than $20,000, whereas 19% of non-essential workers had an income above $100,000. Half (54%) of essential workers reported food insecurity. Over one-third (35%) of essential and 22% of non-essential workers reported increased food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, there was a significant difference in food insecurity status between essential and non-essential Hispanic/Latino workers (p < 0.001).
The results underscore the prevalence of food insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to create comprehensive food policies that address the lack of availability of adequate food among Hispanic/Latino essential workers who already face pandemic-related challenges.
新冠疫情的经济影响进一步加剧了西班牙裔/拉丁裔人群的健康和福祉问题，他们在关键行业中的占比可能过高，且容易面临粮食不安全问题。本研究探讨了新冠疫情对美国拉丁裔/西班牙裔关键岗位和非关键岗位工人的粮食安全状况的影响是否存在差异。
开展了新冠疫情拉丁裔健康横断面调查，通过面对面和线上方式进行。进行了双变量分析和卡方检验，以调查关键岗位工人身份与新冠疫情期间粮食安全状况变化之间的关联。所有报告的p值均为双侧；p < 0.05被认为具有统计学意义。
在869名西班牙裔/拉丁裔受访者中，393人（45%）被视为关键岗位工人，476人（55%）为非关键岗位工人。约22%的关键岗位工人报告家庭收入低于2万美元，而19%的非关键岗位工人收入高于10万美元。一半（54%）的关键岗位工人报告存在粮食不安全问题。超过三分之一（35%）的关键岗位工人和22%的非关键岗位工人报告在新冠疫情期间粮食不安全状况有所增加。此外，西班牙裔/拉丁裔关键岗位和非关键岗位工人在粮食不安全状况方面存在显著差异（p < 0.001）。
研究结果强调了新冠疫情导致粮食不安全问题的普遍性，以及制定全面粮食政策的必要性，以解决已经面临疫情相关挑战的西班牙裔/拉丁裔关键岗位工人缺乏充足食物的问题。
