Effects of Ramadan Fasting on Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD): A Prospective Observational study

Effects of Ramadan Fasting on Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD): A Prospective Observational study

ABSTRACT

Background:
Most previous studies documented a beneficial effect for Ramadan fasting  in patients with cardiovascular disease.  However, majority of these studies concerned with the risk factors ans some have conflicting findings. On the other hand, few studies investigated the effect of Ramadan fasting on the ischemic heart diseases (IHD).

Objective: This study assesses the effects of fasting on the admission rate due to ischemic heart disease.

Patients and Methods: For this prospective study, a questionnaire was prepared to ask the admitted patients in Sulaymaniyah Cardiac Center and Shar Hospital during Ramadan of 2022 in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, due to ischemic heart disease. In total,137 patients (94 males and 43 females) participated in this study. Their diagnosis of ischemic heart disease was performed based on either the old result of cardiac catheterization or C-T coronary angiography.

Results: It is observed the average age of the patients was 60.64 years varying between 27 years to 90 years old. It is found that fasting during Ramadan may cause more admission to hospitals due to ischemic heart disease in, Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region of Iraq as from the 107 patients who were not admitted before, 63% (P= 0.00002, z- test) (67 patients) were fasting during their admission while only 37% (40 patients) of them were not fasting.

Conclusion:
It is deduced that fasting during Ramadan can cause an increase in hospital admission of patients due to ischemic heart disease.