Associations of Night Eating Behavior and Body Mass Index with Sleep Quality in Adult Women: A Cross-Sectional Study
NUTRIENTS, cilt.18, sa.21, ss.1-18, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 18 Sayı: 21
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.3390/nu18213655
- Dergi Adı: NUTRIENTS
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Food Science & Technology Abstracts, Biomedical Reference Collection: Corporate Edition (EBSCO), Health Research Premium Collection (ProQuest), Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), BIOSIS, CINAHL, EMBASE, CAB Abstracts, MEDLINE
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-18
- Lokman Hekim Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Background: Night eating behavior, adiposity, and poor sleep quality have been examined in previous studies, but additional evidence from large female samples with directly measured anthropometric characteristics is valuable. This study aimed to examine the associations among night eating behavior, body mass index (BMI), and subjective sleep quality in adult women, including their associations after adjustment for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study included 1203 women aged 18–65 years recruited from four family centers in Mamak, Ankara, Türkiye. Night eating behavior was assessed using the Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ), and subjective sleep quality was evaluated using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Anthropometric measurements were obtained directly by the researcher. Correlation analyses and hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses were performed, with adjustment for age, education, occupation, smoking, alcohol consumption, and regular exercise. Results: The mean PSQI and NEQ total scores were 5.58 ± 2.84 and 12.50 ± 5.04, respectively. Night eating behavior was moderately positively correlated with PSQI scores (𝜚 = 0.404, p < 0.001), indicating poorer subjective sleep quality at higher NEQ scores. BMI showed weak positive correlations with PSQI scores (r = 0.122, p < 0.001) and NEQ scores (𝜚 = 0.085, p = 0.003). In the fully adjusted regression model, NEQ remained significantly associated with higher PSQI scores (β = 0.425, p < 0.001), whereas BMI was not significantly associated with PSQI scores (β = 0.051, p = 0.115). Older age and current smoking were associated with higher PSQI scores, while regular exercise was Academic Editor: Georgian Badicu Received: 21 September 2026 Revised: 29 October 2026 Accepted: 31 October 2026 Published: 3 November 2026 Copyright: © 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. associated with lower scores. The final model explained 22.9% of the variance in PSQI scores (adjusted R2 = 0.218). Conclusions: Night eating behavior was moderately associated with poorer subjective sleep quality and remained significantly associated with PSQI scores after adjustment for measured sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. Although BMI showed weak unadjusted associations with sleep quality and night eating behavior, its association with sleep quality was not statistically significant in the fully adjusted model. These findings highlight the relevance of night eating-related symptoms to subjective sleep quality in adult women, without establishing a causal relationship. Keywords: sleep quality; night eating behavior; body mass index; Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; Night Eating Questionnaire