Ramadan and Diabetes: What About Non-Fasting Patients with Diabetes?

The management of diabetes during Ramadan is well codified. International guidelines recommend avoiding fasting for patients with the risk of complications. However, during Ramadan drastic changes occur in lifestyles habits. Our study aims to evaluate the impact of the month of Ramadan on the lifestyle habits and metabolic profile of non-fasting patients with diabetes.

This observational cross-sectional study was carried out during 3 months of Ramadan in 2018, Ramadan 2019, and Ramadan 2021. We conducted 3 consultations (before, during, and after Ramadan). Before Ramadan, we collected anthropometric and metabolic parameters, and we assessed physical activity level and dietary intake. During Ramadan, we evaluated the occurrence of complications such as hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia, as well as we assessed physical activity level, dietary intake, and the number of meals. After Ramadan re-evaluate anthropometric and metabolic parameters.

We included 155 patients, 93.5% had type 2 diabetes and 6.5% had type 1 diabetes. We found that glycated hemoglobin, LDL cholesterol, and Triglyceride increased significantly after Ramadan (p-value <0.001). We also found that weight, body mass index, waist circumference. Caloric intake increased significantly during Ramadan (p-value <0.001); this increase concerned 61.3% of patients. In terms of metabolic parameters, diabetes was unbalanced in 52.6% of patients, hypoglycemia occurs in 20.9% of patients, and hyperglycemia was experienced by 37% of patients during Ramadan. We found that LDL cholesterol increased in 48.4% of patients, triglycerides increased in 60.6% of patients and serum level of total cholesterol increased in 55% of patients.

Our study showed that during Ramadan risk of complications in patients with diabetes is not only related to fasting.