Relationship between night shift work, eating habits and BMI among nurses in Lebanon

BACKGROUND: The objective of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the relationships between night shift work, eating habits and body mass index (BMI) among Lebanese nurses. METHODS: A total of 307 nurses were randomly selected from five hospitals located in Beirut. Data about demographic and professional characteristics, anthropometric measures, dietary habits and intakes were collected through a validated questionnaire. To study the relationship between night shift work, eating habits and BMI, 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 shifts were sweets and potato chips. The findings highlighted that BMI 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 is positively associated with abnormal eating patterns and BMI among Lebanese nurses. However the increase in BMI is not related to eating habits.