NIGHT EATING SYNDROME IN YOUNG ADOLESCENTS: FREQUENCY AND SIGNIFICANCE

Objective: Night Eating Syndrome (NES) was first described in 1955 and recently categorized in DSM-V. The prevalence is 1.5-5.7% in general population and reaches up to 5.7% in young adolescents. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of NES in university students and the related factors with NES. Methods: 179 university students (17 male, 162 female) were enrolled to this cross-sectional study. Data were obtained by a questionnaire applied to participants face to face. Questionnaires include socio-demographic features, medical history and anthropometric parameters of the participants. To evaluate NES, Turkish version of the Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ) was used.Statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS 17.0. All descriptive statistics were reported as mean±SD. p values < 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Results: Nineteen participants (10.6%) met the criteria of NES. There were no significant differences between NES and non-NES groups with respect to gender, age or Body Mass Index (BMI). Also, there was no correlation between BMI and NEQ points of participants (r=0.03; p=0.690). Conclusion: In conclusion, this study impacts that NES was high among university students in Turkey. Additionally, assessing the presence of NES in young adults and adolescents may help to find out other psychiatric and eating disorders.