Background & aims: Unhealthy dietary behaviours have been associated with poor sleep among adolescents in many developed countries; however, evidence is lacking from resource-limited settings. This study aimed to examine the associations of fast-food or carbonated soft drink consumption with anxiety-induced sleep disturbance among adolescents in Bangladesh.
Methods: We analysed data from the 2014 Bangladesh Global School-based Student Health Survey. Data on past 12-month anxiety-induced sleep disturbance, and past 30-day carbonated soft drink and past 7-day fast-food consumption were collected. We used Poisson regression to examine the associations.
Results: Data were available for 2742 adolescents aged 12-15 years (37% females). The prevalence of anxiety-induced sleep disturbance was 4.5%, while that of soft drink (≥3 times/day) and fast-food (≥3 days/past week) consumption were 17% and 26%, respectively. Multivariable analysis showed that adolescents who consumed carbonated soft drink ≥3 times/day had double the odds of reporting sleep disturbance than those who consumed < once/day (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.01-4.18). Compared to those who did not have any fast-food in the past week, the odds of reporting sleep disturbance was 2.6 times higher among those who had fast-food ≥3 days during the past week (OR 2.64, 95% CI 1.33-5.24). Adolescents who had high intake of both fast-food and soft drink had 3.4 times higher odds of reporting sleep disturbance compared to those who had neither (OR 3.40, 95% CI 1.37-8.44).
Conclusions: Our findings suggest positive associations between frequent consumption of soft drinks and/or fast-food with anxiety-induced sleep disturbance among adolescents. Prospective studies are needed to understand these associations better.
Keywords: Adolescence; Carbonated sugar-sweetened soft drinks; Dietary behaviour; Fast-food; Sleep difficulties; Wellbeing.
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