Frequency of night eating syndrome and melatonin levels in the urine of adolescents

Abstract

Aim. The aim is to study the frequency of night eating syndrome (NES) and its correlation with melatonin levels in the daily urine of adolescents. Materials and methods. Primary screening of 486 adolescents (15–18 years) with complaints of eating disorders, overweight, obesity, which included a survey (test “Depressive Disorders in Adolescents”, Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ), Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ) and anthropometry (BMI) was conducted. In the second stage, a sample of 56 adolescents (11.5 %) who met the NES criteria of DSM-5 (main group) and 50 adolescents who did not have NES (comparison group) was formed. The urine concentration of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (6-COMT) was determined by enzyme immunoassay (Buhlmann 6-Sulfatoxymelatonin ELISA Kit, Switzerland). Results. Deficit of body weight had 3 (8.8 %) of adolescent boys, 20 (58.8 %) were overweight, 1 (2.9 %) – obese and only 10 (29.4 %) had the average normative values of body weight; among female adolescents, 1 (4.5 %) – body weight deficit and obesity, 10 (45.5 %) – overweight and average normative indicators. According to the DEBQ, restrictive eating behaviors were identified in 15 (26.8 %) adolescents; in 30 (53.6 %) adolescents – emotional and in 11 (19.6 %) adolescents – external. The mean score of the NEQ was 28.4 ± 2.2 and positively correlated with BMI (r = +0.62, P < 0.05). Participants who exceeded the screening threshold for NES (n = 56, 11.5 %) had increased BMI (P < 0.01), likelihood of overweight/obesity (P = 0.001), consumption of sugary drinks (P < 0.001), daytime sleep less than twice a week (P < 0.01), shorter sleep duration (P < 0.01), high and moderate levels of depression, lower levels of melatonin, which were inversely correlated with the results of the NEQ (r = -0.68, P < 0.05). Conclusions. The prevalence of NES among teenagers was 11.5 %. Among the types of eating behavior, the most common was the emotional type (53.6 %). Adolescents with NES had a significantly higher total depression score (96.7 ± 8.06, P < 0.001) and a lower level of 6-COMT (22.89 ± 3.44, P < 0.001), which was inversely correlated with the degree of NES (r = -0.68, P < 0.05), BMI (r = -0.74; P < 0.01) and depression level (r = -0.65; P < 0.01).