Relationship between night shift work, eating habits and BMI 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 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, chisquare 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.

Health‐related behaviours of nurses in Poland: The role of Type D personality

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