Factor structure of the Night Eating Diagnostic Questionnaire (NEDQ) and an evaluation of the diagnostic criteria of the night eating syndrome

Laurence J Nolan,Allan Geliebter

doi:10.1186/s40337-019-0268-9

Laurence J Nolan, Allan Geliebter

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-019-0268-9

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Abstract

BackgroundThe Night Eating Diagnostic Questionnaire (NEDQ) is a validated assessment of the night eating syndrome (NES) based on the proposed diagnostic criteria. While past results show that NEDQ is associated with psychopathology and body mass index (BMI), the relationships between the proposed NES diagnostic criteria and psychopathology and BMI have not been investigated. Thus, the relationships between the proposed NES diagnostic criteria and factors previously associated with NES, namely depression, “food addiction” (FA), sleep quality, and BMI were examined. Finally, the NEDQ factor structure was examined for the first time in order to determine whether the NEDQ is assessing NES appropriately.MethodsThe NEDQ, depression, sleep quality, and FA questionnaires were administered to a sample of older community members (n = 468) and a student sample (n = 254). Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was performed to examine the factor structure of the NEDQ. The relationships between the proposed diagnostic criteria and depression, sleep quality, FA, and BMI were examined using multiple regression.ResultsThe proposed NES criteria were highly intercorrelated. PCA revealed a single factor solution for the NEDQ. In the community sample, depression was associated with the presence of five of nine proposed diagnostic criteria while poor sleep quality and FA were associated with the presence of seven and six criteria respectively. In the community sample, only the sleep problems and impairment/distress criteria were positively associated with BMI. In the student sample, fewer criteria were associated with psychopathology, and no criteria were associated with BMI.ConclusionsThese findings support the proposed criteria for diagnosis of NES. All proposed criteria were associated with at least one psychopathology measure. BMI was only associated with the sleep problems and impairment/distress criteria in the community sample. The PCA finding of a single factor indicates that the NEDQ is a cohesive assessment of NES, and that the NEDQ is a good measure of NES criteria.

Highlights

The Night Eating Diagnostic Questionnaire (NEDQ) is a validated assessment of the night eating syndrome (NES) based on the proposed diagnostic criteria
We asked 722 women and men to complete a series of questionnaires to determine whether the NEDQ accurately measured all of the proposed criteria of the night eating syndrome, and whether these criteria were linked to depression, sleep problems, food addiction, and body weight
The results showed that the NEDQ assesses all of the night eating criteria

Summary

Introduction

The Night Eating Diagnostic Questionnaire (NEDQ) is a validated assessment of the night eating syndrome (NES) based on the proposed diagnostic criteria. At least 3 of the 5 following criteria should be present: lack of desire to eat breakfast (morning anorexia), depressed or worse mood in the evening, strong urge to eat between dinner and sleep onset (or during the night), a belief that one must eat in order to fall asleep, and/or sleep onset/maintenance insomnia (sleep problems) [1] These symptoms should occur in the absence of the unconscious sleep-related eating disorder, i.e. awareness of eating behavior is present, and in the presence of personal distress and/or impairment associated with the night eating [1]. Other studies compare the characteristics of those who have met the criterion for NES (e.g., NEQ score ≥ 25) to those who have not These studies do not allow for the assessment of the inclusion of the proposed criteria or for the examination of the relationship of the proposed clinical diagnostic criteria to psychopathology.

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