Neighborhood Racial Diversity and Metabolic Syndrome: 2003-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

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.