title: Neighborhood socioeconomic status in relation to dietary intake and insulin resistance syndrome in female Japanese dietetic students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  An increasing number of studies in Western countries have shown that living in a socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhood is associated with unfavorable dietary intake patterns and health status. However, information on such neighborhood socioeconomic differences in diet and health among different cultural settings, including Japan, is limited. This cross-sectional study examined the association of neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) with dietary intake and a summary score of the insulin resistance syndrome (IRS) in a group of young Japanese women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were 1081 female Japanese dietetic students aged 18 to 22 y residing in 295 municipalities in Japan. Neighborhood SES index was defined by seven municipal-level variables, namely unemployment, household overcrowding, poverty, education, income, home ownership, and vulnerable group, with an increasing index signifying increasing neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage. Dietary intake was estimated using a validated, comprehensive self-administered diet-history questionnaire. Measurements of body mass index, systolic blood pressure, fasting high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triacylglycerol, glucose, and insulin were combined into an IRS score, with an increasing score signifying increasing levels of components of the IRS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Neighborhood SES index was not associated with most of the dietary variables, body mass index, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triacylglycerol, or glucose. However, neighborhood SES index was significantly positively associated with systolic blood pressure, insulin, and IRS score, after adjustment for potential confounding or mediating factors, including household SES, dietary, and lifestyle factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with unfavorable profiles of the IRS score, but not dietary intake, in a group of young Japanese women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Preventive Epidemiology, School of Public Health, the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Yoshiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uenishi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D004032:Diet; D004046:Dietetics / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D007564:Japan; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin