| Report Area | Total Population | Percent Population in Tracts with No Food Outlet | Percent Population in Tracts with No Healthy Food Outlet | Percent Population in Tracts with Low Healthy Food Access | Percent Population in Tracts with Moderate Healthy Food Access | Percent Population in Tracts with High Healthy Food Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin County, PA | 149,620 | 0% | 5.56% | 10.66% | 63.21% | 20.57% |
| Pennsylvania | 12,702,386 | 1.7% | 18.48% | 24.53% | 44.09% | 11.2% |
| United States | 312,474,470 | 0.99% | 18.63% | 30.89% | 43.28% | 5.02% |
Population with Low or No Healthy Food Access, Racial Disparity Index
| Report Area | Disparity Index Score (0 = No Disparity; 1 - 15 = Some Disparity; Over 15 = High Disparity) |
|---|---|
| Franklin County, PA | 32.43 |
| Pennsylvania | 21.70 |
| United States | 16.59 |
Population with Low or No Healthy Food Access by Race/Ethnicity, Percent
| Report Area | Total Population | Non-Hispanic White | Non-Hispanic Black | Non-Hispanic Asian | Non-Hispanic American Indian / Alaska Native | Non-Hispanic Other | Multiple Race | Hispanic or Latino |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin County, PA | 15.51 | 15.13% | 24.77% | 14.25% | 9.5% | 21.55% | 20.13% | 23.15% |
| Pennsylvania | 45.46 | 40.99% | 73.9% | 53.02% | 51.78% | 52.91% | 53.69% | 68.75% |
| United States | 52.02 | 49.33% | 64.15% | 51.26% | 54.56% | 57.92% | 53.64% | 54.98% |
Population with Low or No Healthy Food Access by Race/Ethnicity, Total
| Report Area | Non-Hispanic White | Non-Hispanic Black | Non-Hispanic Asian | Non-Hispanic American Indian / Alaska Native | Non-Hispanic Other | Multiple Race | Hispanic or Latino |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin County, PA | 18,482 | 716 | 100 | 17 | 25 | 190 | 525 |
| Pennsylvania | 4,231,244 | 888,600 | 115,749 | 7,717 | 6,924 | 60,718 | 270,918 |
| United States | 95,978,903 | 21,776,320 | 5,189,224 | 1,128,698 | 270,921 | 2,468,453 | 19,410,660 |
Modified Retail Food Environment Index
Data Background
The Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) is a program run by the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a division of the US Department of Health & Human Services. The agency utilizes a public health approach to address the role of nutrition and physical activity in improving the public's health and preventing and controlling chronic diseases. The DNPAO published the Modified Retail Food Environmental Index (MRFEi) for each state in the US in 2011. The mRFEI is a measure of the proportion of food retailers that sell healthy foods compared to retailers that sell unhealthy foods. Scores can range from 0 (no food retailers that typically sell healthy food) to 100 (only food retailers that typically sell healthy food). Areas with lower mRFEI scores have more food retailers (like fast food restaurants and convenience stores) that are less likely to sell less healthy foods and fewer food retailers (like supermarkets) that tend to sell healthy foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables.
Methodology
Census tract-level Modified Retail Food Environmental Index (mRFEI) data was acquired from the CDC Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO). This dataset contains index values for each census tract (using census 2000 boundaries) based on the proportion of healthy to unhealthy food retailers located in the tract. mRFEI scores were classified into different healthy food access categories as follows:
| -9999 | No Food Outlet |
| 0.0 | No Healthy Food Outlet |
| 0.1 – 10.0 | Low Healthy Food Access |
| 10.1 – 30.0 | Moderate Healthy Food Access |
| Over 30.0 | High Healthy Food Access |
Notes
Race and Ethnicity
Race and ethnicity (Hispanic origin) are collected as two separate categories the US Census Bureau based on methods established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in 1997. Indicator race and ethnicity statistics are generated from self-identified survey responses. Using the OMB standard, the available race categories in the Decennial Census are: White, Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, and Other. A census respondent may identify as one race alone, or may choose multiple races. Respondents selecting multiple categories are racially identified as “Two or More Races”. The minimum ethnicity categories are: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino. Respondents may only choose one ethnicity. Total population counts are reported in the Decennial Census Summary File 1 by combined race and ethnicity. Indicator race and ethnicity statistics (total and percentages) are generated using the method described above. Totals and percentages are only available by race and ethnicity for populations in tracts with low, poor, or no healthy food access (tracts with scores under 15.1).
Index of Disparity (ID)
The Index of Disparity (ID) used with this indicator was adopted by researchers at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) for use with Healthy People 2010 and 2020 guidelines. This index measures the magnitude of variation in indicator percentages across groups - in this case racial and ethnic groups. Specifically, the index of disparity is defined as "the average of the absolute differences between rates for specific groups within a population and the overall population rate, divided by the rate for the overall population and expressed as a percentage". The ID can be expressed using the following formula:
Index of Disparity = 100.0 * ( ( SUM ( |r - R| ) / n) / R )
...where r is the sub-group rate and R is the total population rate. Index values range from 0 (where all sub-groups are equal) to infinity. Index values are heavily dependent on the total population value ( R ), so comparisons should be made across geographic areas (county vs. state vs. nation), and not across indicators.
For more information on the index of disparity, please see the NIH research article A Summary Measure of Health Disparity.
Courtesy: Community Commons, <www.communitycommons.org>, November 2017