Adaptation of the night eating questionnaire for Brazilian adolescents.

INTRODUCTION: Night Eating Syndrome (NES) is characterized by a delay in the circadian rhythm of food intake and affects 1.5% of the general population, occurring more frequently in obese people. The Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ) was originally developed for the American adult population. It is a self-administered instrument widely used in the identification and follow-up of individuals with NES. Although the NEQ has been translated and validated for Brazilian adults, there are no reports of its adaptation for use in Brazilian adolescents. The present study aimed to adapt and evaluate reliability and reproducibility of the NEQ for Brazilian adolescents. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Initially, a semantic adaptation of the Portuguese version of the NEQ was performed by 3 professionals with experience with adolescents. The suggested text was analyzed and consolidated item by item by the researchers and then presented to 21 adolescents from an intermediate school in Fortaleza. The questions with low level of understanding (<90%) were modified and the questionnaire was re-applied to 23 adolescents, obtaining satisfactory understanding. RESULTS: The version of the NEQ for Brazilian adolescents, compared to the adult version, contains changes in items 3, 5, 6, 7 and 13. The questionnaire was administered to 463 students aged 11 to 17 years (mean ± SD = 13.7 ± 1.2), from 3 schools. The internal consistency, measured by the Cronbach's alpha coefficient, was 0.73. The reproducibility that was measured after one week in 27 adolescents was 0.92 (95% CI 0.82-0.96). CONCLUSION: The new version of the NEQ for Brazilian adolescents presents excellent reproducibility and good internal consistency and is a simple and useful instrument to evaluate nocturnal eating symptoms in this age group.

Obesity, Hypersomnolence, and Quality of Sleep: the Impact of Bariatric Surgery.

PURPOSE: Obesity is commonly associated with poor sleep, excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and depressive mood but the impact of bariatric surgery on these conditions is incompletely understood. This study aimed to investigate the course of EDS and sleep quality in bariatric surgery patients in relation with changes in body weight and depressive symptoms. METHODS: In patients consecutively submitted to bariatric surgery, baseline and postoperative sleep quality were evaluated by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), excessive daytime sleepiness by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), risk for OSA by the Berlin Questionnaire (BQ), and depressive symptoms by the Beck Depression Inventory-Short Form (BDI). Comorbidities were assessed by interview and chart review. RESULTS: Sixty patients (M/F = 9/51) with a mean (±SD) age of 34.7 ± 9.2 years and body mass index (BMI) of 46.04 ± 7.52 kg/m2 were studied. Bariatric surgery improved PSQI score (6.4 ± 3.8 versus 4.1 ± 2.8; p < 0.001), ESS score (8.1 ± 4.7 versus 6.0 ± 3.3; p < 0.001), BDI score (9.8 ± 7.0 versus 4.7 ± 4.6; p = 0.001), and risk for OSA (68.3 versus 5%). Twelve of the 18 subjects with baseline EDS (ESS ≥ 10) developed normal ESS score after surgery. In these subjects, significant postoperative improvement in depressive symptoms score was observed (12.0 ± 9.0 versus 5.5 ± 5.0; p = 0.041), in contrast to the remaining six cases with persistent EDS, who showed no significant change in these symptoms (5.5 ± 5.0 versus 3.2 ± 3.1; p = 0.416). CONCLUSION: Bariatric surgery has a beneficial effect on sleep quality and EDS. Postoperative improvement in EDS can be related to a reduction in depressive symptoms.

Depressive symptoms, quality of sleep, and disease control in women with asthma.

PURPOSE: A large number of asthmatic patients, particularly females, present inadequate disease control. Depressive symptoms are reportedly common in asthma and have been related to poor disease control, but the mechanism of this association is still unclear. Poor quality sleep, frequently observed in asthmatics, is also a manifestation of depression and has been related to uncontrolled asthma. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between depressive symptoms, sleep quality, and asthma control. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of 123 women with previous diagnosis of asthma from a reference center in Fortaleza, Brazil. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); quality of sleep was evaluated by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), daytime sleepiness by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and asthma control by the Asthma Control Test (ACT). RESULTS: Inadequate asthma control (ACT <20) was found in 94 (76.4 %) subjects, depressive symptoms in 92 (74.8 %), poor quality sleep (PSQI >5) in 99 (80.49 %), and excessive daytime sleepiness (ESS ≥10) in 34 (27.64 %). Depressive symptoms were associated with both poor quality sleep (R = 0.326) and inadequate asthma control (R = -0.299). Regression analysis showed that depressive symptoms and sleep quality were independent predictors of the level of asthma control. CONCLUSION: Asthma control in women is independently associated with depressive symptoms and quality of sleep, suggesting that these patients might benefit from simple measures to promote healthy sleep behavior and sleep hygiene and also that routine screening for depression can be relevant, particularly, in poorly controlled cases.

Night eating syndrome: How to treat it?

Night eating syndrome (NES) is characterized by caloric intake ≥ 25% of total daily after dinner and/or by two or more weekly nocturnal awakenings accompanied by food ingestion. Causes of NES are not entirely clear and seem to involve a desynchronization between the circadian rhythms of food ingestion and sleep, resulting in a delayed pattern of food intake. Estimates of the prevalence of NES in the general population are around 1.5%, and although much higher frequencies have been described in obese individuals, a causal relationship between NES and obesity is not clearly established. Since the first NES reports, several treatment modalities have been proposed, although, in many cases, the evidence is still insufficient and there is no consensus on the ideal approach. In order to conduct a critical review of proposed treatments for NES since its original description, a systematic search of articles published in journals indexed in Medline/Pubmed database in the period 1955-2015 was performed. Seventeen articles addressing non-pharmacological and pharmacological therapies met the selection criteria. Based on the articles analyzed, we conclude that serotonergic agents and psychological interventions, particularly cognitive behavioral therapy, have been shown to be effective for the treatment of NES. A combination of non-pharmacological and pharmacological therapies must be considered in future studies on the treatment of these patients.

Night eating syndrome: How to treat it? / Síndrome do comer noturno: como tratar?

Summary Night eating syndrome (NES) is characterized by caloric intake ≥ 25% of total daily after dinner and/or by two or more weekly nocturnal awakenings accompanied by food ingestion. Causes of NES are not entirely clear and seem to involve a desynchronization between the circadian rhythms of food ingestion and sleep, resulting in a delayed pattern of food intake. Estimates of the prevalence of NES in the general population are around 1.5%, and although much higher frequencies have been described in obese individuals, a causal relationship between NES and obesity is not clearly established. Since the first NES reports, several treatment modalities have been proposed, although, in many cases, the evidence is still insufficient and there is no consensus on the ideal approach. In order to conduct a critical review of proposed treatments for NES since its original description, a systematic search of articles published in journals indexed in Medline/Pubmed database in the period 1955-2015 was performed. Seventeen articles addressing non-pharmacological and pharmacological therapies met the selection criteria. Based on the articles analyzed, we conclude that serotonergic agents and psychological interventions, particularly cognitive behavioral therapy, have been shown to be effective for the treatment of NES. A combination of non-pharmacological and pharmacological therapies must be considered in future studies on the treatment of these patients.

Resumo A síndrome do comer noturno (SCN) caracteriza-se por ingestão calórica ≥ 25% do total diário após o jantar e/ou por dois ou mais despertares noturnos semanais acompanhados de alimentação. As causas da SCN não estão totalmente esclarecidas e parecem envolver uma dessincronização entre os ritmos circadianos de alimentação e sono, resultando em um atraso do padrão alimentar. Estimativas da prevalência de SCN na população geral estão em torno de 1,5% e, embora frequências bem mais elevadas tenham sido descritas em obesos, uma relação de causalidade entre SCN e obesidade não está claramente estabelecida. Desde os primeiros relatos da SCN, várias modalidades de tratamento têm sido propostas, embora, em muitos casos, a evidência ainda seja insuficiente e não exista um consenso sobre a abordagem ideal. Com o objetivo de realizar uma revisão crítica dos tratamentos propostos para a SCN, desde sua descrição original, foi realizada uma busca sistemática de artigos publicados nos periódicos indexados na base de dados MedLine / Pubmed entre 1955 e 2015. Dezessete artigos, abordando terapias não farmacológicas ou farmacológicas, preencheram os critérios de seleção. Com base nos artigos analisados, conclui-se que os agentes serotonérgicos e intervenções psicológicas, particularmente, a terapia cognitivo-comportamental, têm mostrado eficácia no tratamento da SCN. Uma combinação de terapias não farmacológicas e farmacológicas precisa ser considerada em estudos futuros sobre o tratamento desses pacientes.