Relationship between Night shift work, Eating Habits and the Risk of Obesity among Nurses in Lebanon
Abstract Background The objective of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the relationships between night shift work, eating habits and the risk of obesity among Lebanese nurses.Methods A total of 307 nurses were randomly selected from five hospitals localized in Beirut. Data about demographic and professional characteristics, anthropometric measures, dietary habits and intakes were collected through a validated questionnaire. To study the relation between night shift works, eating habits and the risk of obesity, chi-square test, t-test and logistic regressions were used.Results The majority of nurses (78, 2%) had irregular meals timing with a significant decrease in the number of complete meals consumed during the day and an increase in the number of snacks consumed during night (p<0, 05). The most consumed snacks during night were sweets and potato chips. The findings highlighted that Body Mass Index and waist circumference significantly increased with the number of years of work (r=0,175; p<0, 05) and the cumulative number of night shifts hours over the entire work history (r=0,135/p< 0, 05).Conclusion Night shift work contributes to abnormal eating patterns and increases the risk of obesity among Lebanese nurses. However the risk of obesity is not related to eating habits.