Prevalence And Factors Associated With Regular Fast-Food Consumption Among The Adult Population In Qatar: Cross-Sectional Analysis From Qatar Biobank Cohort

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Frontiers In Nutrition

Publication Date

1-16-2026

Abstract

Background The Eastern Mediterranean Region has undergone a rapid nutrition transition over the last three decades, with healthier traditional table diets displaced by energy-dense convenience foods. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first large cohort-based estimate of regular fast-food consumption (RFFC >= 1 time/week) and its correlates among the adult population in Qatar using Qatar Biobank, a volunteer prospective cohort of Qataris and long-term residents.Methods A cross-sectional study using a simple randomized sample of 2,000 adult participants from the Qatar Biobank (QBB) longitudinal cohort. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. RFFC was modeled as a binary outcome using purposeful multivariable logistic regression with an age*sex interaction. A sensitivity analysis on a sub-cohort population to examine the impact of job-related factors.Results RFFC was highly prevalent among participants, with 49.7% reporting frequently consuming fast food (>= 1 time/week). Age emerged as the strongest independent predictor that was modified by sex (likelihood-ratio test, p = 0.034), with the youngest adults (18-24 years) having four-fold higher odds of RFFC compared to the oldest cohort (45-65 years; AORs = 4.36, 95% CI: 2.37-8.02). A significant age-sex interaction was discovered, showing that young women (18-24) had particularly high predicted probabilities of RFFC (78%), which was less than that of their male counterparts by mid-adulthood and reversed slightly in older ages. Low fruit/vegetable intake was significantly associated with RFFC (AOR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.30-1.60). However, education was positively associated in crude models but lost its significance after adjusting for other covariates and accounting for age-sex interaction. In the sub-cohort population (sensitivity analysis restricted to employed only, n = 1,660), night shift schedules were significantly associated with 40% higher odds of RFFC (AOR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.09-1.81), the age-sex interaction persisted, and low fruit/vegetable intake remained significantly predictive (AOR = 1.37, 95% CI: 1.10-1.71).Conclusion RFFC is highly prevalent in this large longitudinal, phenotyped sample of adults residing in Qatar and is concentrated among younger adults, particularly women with low fruit/vegetable intake and among those engaged in night-shift work. These findings highlight the need for age- and sex-specific, as well as occupationally targeted, dietary interventions and food environment strategies to facilitate healthier choices.

ISSN

2296-861X

Publisher

Frontiers Media SA

Volume

12

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

Keywords

Qatar Biobank (QBB), Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), fast food consumption (FFC), factors influencing FFC, adult population

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Indexed in Scopus

no

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series

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