Prevalence and Factors Associated with Regular Fast-Food Consumption among Adults Population in Qatar: Cross-Sectional Analysis from Qatar Biobank Cohort

Ala'A Zuhair MassarwehLynne KennedyAsayel SalehAljazi Al-ThaniAla Al Rajabi^*

• Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

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 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 fourfold 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 narrowed with 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 significant 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.