Korean J Obes.  2006 Jun;15(2):98-105.

Night Eating Tendency and Related Health Risk Factors

• Jung HJ
• Park KH
• Cho YG
• Cho JJ
• Paek YJ
• Song HJ
• Byun JS

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine whether night eating tendency is associated with any health risk factors or metabolic indices.
METHODS
A total of 1,087 subjects (590 men and 497 women) who visited a Health Promotion Center at a general hospital from January to December 2004 was included. They completed two self reported questionnaires for screening eating disorders and night eating syndrome (NES). According to the presence of evening hyperphagia, we investigated the association between night eating tendency and any health risk factors or metabolic indices.
RESULTS
The mean age of study subjects was 42.0 +/- 9.0 years, the frequency of NES was 1.1%(12 of 1,087; 10 men & 2 women). In univariate analysis, diet habit, stress, age, smoking, alcohol, and depression, and in multivariate analysis, age (P < 0.05), smoking (P < 0.05), alcohol (P < 0.01), and depression (P < 0.01) had a statistically significant association with night eating tendency. There was no significant difference in metabolic indices according to night eating tendency.
CONCLUSION
Night eating tendency is related to young age, current smoking, moderate to heavy alcohol drinking, and mild depressive trait. Further studies involving a more representative general population are needed to reveal the long-term clinical significances of NES.

Keyword

night eating syndrome; night eating tendency; evening hyperphagia; risk factors; metabolic index

MeSH Terms

Alcohol Drinking
Depression
Eating*
Food Habits
Health Promotion
Hospitals, General
Humans
Hyperphagia
Male
Mass Screening
Multivariate Analysis
Surveys and Questionnaires
Risk Factors*
Self Report
Smoke
Smoking
Smoke