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Step On It! Workplace Cardiovascular Risk Assessment of New York City Yellow Taxi Drivers

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Abstract

Multiple factors associated with taxi driving can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in taxi drivers. This paper describes the results of Step On It!, which assessed CVD risk factors among New York City taxi drivers at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Drivers completed an intake questionnaire and free screenings for blood pressure, glucose and body mass index (BMI). 466 drivers participated. 9 % had random plasma glucose values >200 mg/dl. 77 % had elevated BMIs. Immigrants who lived in the US for >10 years had 2.5 times the odds (CI 1.1–5.9) of having high blood pressure compared to newer immigrants. Abnormalities documented in this study were significant, especially for immigrants with greater duration of residence in the US, and underscore the potential for elevated CVD risk in this vulnerable population, and the need to address this risk through frameworks that utilize multiple levels of intervention.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) for their donation of the space used for Step On It! and for their enthusiastic support of the event, as well as our partner organizations, all of whom provided free services to the taxi drivers during the initiative: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Tobacco Cessation Program, South Asian Council for Social Services, LifeNet, SUNY Downstate, Sarina Jain of Masala Bhangra, Kings County Hospital, Ralph Lauren Community Cancer Center, Food Bank for NYC, New York Road Runners Club, Westchester Square Partnership, Family Center’s “Brooklyn-Stay Well, Enjoy Life” (B-SWEL), NYU Dental School, Urban Breath NYC, American Cancer Society, Metroplus, NYU Steinhardt Department of Nutrition & Public Health, and Taxi Yoga. Data analysis reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R24MD008058. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 300 E. 66th St, 15th Floor, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Francesca Gany, Sehrish Bari, Pavan Gill, Julia Ramirez, Claudia Ayash, Rebecca Loeb, Abraham Aragones & Jennifer Leng

  2. Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Francesca Gany & Jennifer Leng

  3. Department of Public Health, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA

    Francesca Gany & Jennifer Leng

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  1. Francesca Gany
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Correspondence to Jennifer Leng.

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Gany, F., Bari, S., Gill, P. et al. Step On It! Workplace Cardiovascular Risk Assessment of New York City Yellow Taxi Drivers. J Immigrant Minority Health 18, 118–134 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-015-0170-8

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