This study investigated the independent association between neighborhood racial/ethnic diversity and metabolic syndrome among US adults, and focused on how this association differed across individual and neighborhood characteristics (i.e., race/ethnicity, sex, age, urbanity, neighborhood poverty). Objectively-measured biomarker data from 2003 to 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were linked to census-tract profiles from 2000 decennial census (N = 10,122). Multilevel random intercept logistic regression models were estimated to examine the contextual effects of tract-level racial/ethnic diversity on individual risks of metabolic syndrome. Overall, more than 20% of the study population were identified as having metabolic syndrome, although the prevalence also varied across demographic subgroups and specific biomarkers. Multilevel analyses showed that increased racial/ethnic diversity within a census tract was associated with decreased likelihood of having metabolic syndrome (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.52–0.96), particularly among female (OR 0.64; 95% CI 0.43–0.96), young adults (OR 0.60; 95% CI 0.39–0.93), and residents living in urban (OR 0.67; 95% CI 0.48–0.93) or poverty neighborhoods (OR 0.54; 95% CI 0.31–0.95). The findings point to the potential benefits of neighborhood racial/ethnic diversity on individual health risks. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Metabolic syndrome Biomarkers neighborhoods health disparities Ethnicity race

Cultural Diversity Body Weights and Measures Blood Glucose Lipids metabolic syndrome X demography blood pressure health disparity Health Status Disparities Metabolic Syndrome Continental Population Groups ancestry group human epidemiology middle aged Ethnic Groups statistics and numerical data ethnic group Biomarkers ethnology Residence Characteristics lipid United States Young Adult Humans male female Socioeconomic Factors socioeconomics blood glucose blood level nutrition adult biological marker sex factor Sex Factors Age Factors age Nutrition Surveys morphometry