Evaluation of the relationship between consumption of carbonated soft drinks/fast food and anxiety-related sleep disturbance in school adolescents in Bangladesh.

While studies from high-income countries have shown an association between adolescents' poor dietary habits and a lack of quality sleep, there is a dearth of similar data from developing nations. This study intends to investigate the relationship between the consumption of carbonated soft drinks and fast food and sleep disturbances linked to anxiety in school-going adolescents in Bangladesh. The data used for this study came from the 2014 Bangladesh Global School-based Health Survey. Information of 1746 adolescents was utilized in this current analysis. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to identify the associations of interest. In this sample, sleep disturbance associated with anxiety was prevalent at 3.5%. Approximately half of the adolescents (44.4%) consumed soft drinks for one or more occurrences per day during the past 30 days, and 51.2% consumed fast food on one or more days during the past 7 days. Results show that the odds of sleep disturbance associated with anxiety were higher among adolescents who consumed soft drinks (odds ratio [OR] = 2.43; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.15-5.15) and fast food (OR = 2.34; 95% CI = 1.01-5.43) than their respective counterparts after controlling for other covariates, such as age, gender, grade, feeling hungry, engagement in physical violence, physical activity, being bullied, having close friends, peer support, and parental attachment. Sleep disturbance due to anxiety is more common among Bangladeshi school-aged adolescents who consume carbonated beverages or fast food. Further longitudinal studies are necessary to validate or refute our findings and investigate relevant explanations.