Examining Food Access Equity by… | 2025

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36/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 36 out of 100. Risk factors

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Accessibility to food stores offering nutritious and affordable options is critical to ensure urban residents lead healthy lives. However, the uneven distribution of diverse food options in U.S. cities has raised concerns about marginalized communities’ ability to obtain affordable and nutritious food. Transportation-related issues, like car-oriented urban form and sprawl, have created food deserts in cities, making it hard for marginalized communities to access affordable and healthy food. This lack of access has recently drawn the attention of urban planners to address food access-related equity issues. Spatial interaction models can help measure food access by examining how grocery store supply, demand, and proximity affect individuals’ access to necessary food. However, these measures do not always consider the pricing of food items, which can significantly affect food access for low-income individuals and families. We use a highly disaggregated measure tailored to measuring inequitable food accessibility by factoring grocery store pricing into various types of supply and demand. Then, using regional socio-demographic thresholds, we identify target population groups and perform a series of equity analyses using our food accessibility measure. Our results show that walking is more inequitable than driving to food stores and that African American and Hispanic minorities, the elderly, and carless households are more burdened than the reference groups (whites). Using our framework, we identify food deserts and provide spatial and empirical insights for policymakers and planners to address food insecurity and promote equitable access to healthy food.

Key findings

However, these measures do not always consider the pricing of food items, which can significantly affect food access for low-income individuals and families.
Our results show that walking is more inequitable than driving to food stores and that African American and Hispanic minorities, the elderly, and carless households are more burdened than the reference groups (whites).

Why it matters

This study measured food access equity by factoring grocery store pricing into spatial accessibility measures and found walking to be more inequitable than driving. It has no relevance to treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.

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Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 36/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, so that was left out: it earned 35 of the 96 points we could judge it on, which is 36 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board)
Journal's citation record	— / 4	No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	4 / 5	2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	0 / 4	Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	0 / 3	Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Randomised / blinded	0 / 2	No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	3 / 7	Cited 16 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	2 / 5	5.3 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025
Impact for its field and year	4 / 6	Cited 8.5× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	0 / 6	No other study in this library cites it
Still being cited	2 / 4	Cited 16 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	1 / 4	Last-listed author Qisheng Pan: h-index 16 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	0 / 3	The University of Texas at Arlington: institution h-index 523 (OpenAlex)
Multi-centre collaboration	0 / 3	OpenAlex lists 1 institution(s) in 1 country — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete)
Indexed in PubMed	1 / 2	Not in PubMed, but has a DOI
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Points	35 / 96	Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 35 of the 96 points we could judge it on is 36 out of 100.
Total	36 / 100	—

What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →

Read the original

Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

APA 7th

Kharel, S., Sharifiasl, S., & Pan, Q. (2025). Examining Food Access Equity by Integrating Grocery Store Pricing into Spatial Accessibility Measures. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981241254382

Vancouver

Kharel S, Sharifiasl S, Pan Q. Examining Food Access Equity by Integrating Grocery Store Pricing into Spatial Accessibility Measures. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. 2025. doi:10.1177/03611981241254382.

BibTeX

@article{kharel2025-04a30932,
  author  = {Kharel, Subham and Sharifiasl, Seyedsoheil and Pan, Qisheng},
  title   = {{Examining Food Access Equity by Integrating Grocery Store Pricing into Spatial Accessibility Measures}},
  journal = {Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board},
  year    = {2025},
  doi     = {10.1177/03611981241254382},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981241254382}
}

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