title: Does hospitalization for asthma and allergic diseases occur more frequently in Ramadan fasting: a population based study (2000-2004).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Over one billion Muslims fast worldwide during the month of Ramadan. Fasting during Ramadan is a radical change in life style for the period of a lunar month. Our objective in this study was to investigate whether Ramadan fasting has any effect on the incidence of asthma and to assess whether Ramadan Fasting affected normal lung function values.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a hospital-based cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hamad General Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, State of Qatar.
  
  
  METHODS
  We prospectively reviewed 1590 asthmatic Muslim patients who were hospitalized with asthma over a four year period from January 2000 to December 2004. Patients were divided according to the time of presentation in relation to the month of Ramadan, one month before, during and one month after Ramadan.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pulmonary function tests were performed on an electronic spirometer (Compact Vitalograph, Buckingham, U.K.). Performance of the spirometric test and data collection were according to as described by the American Thoracic Society.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 1590 patients studied. Among them, 901 were males (56.7%) and 689 were females (43.3%). Their mean age was 30 years (15-60). All patients expressed clinical allergy, 454 patients (28.6%) had asthma and rhinitis, 513 patients (32.3%) had allergic rhinitis, 300 patients (18.9%) had asthma alone and 10.6% had other allergic conditions. The ventilatory capacity of lung function parameters mean did not show any statistically significant differences between a period of pre-Ramadan, during Ramadan and after Ramadan concerning FVC, FEV1, FEF(25-75) FEV1/FVC, and PEF values.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated that no significant difference was found in number of hospitalization and the mean spirometric values for asthma while fasting during the month of Ramadan when compared to the non-fasting months.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Statistics & Epidemiology, Hamad General Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, State of Qatar.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bener
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Colakoglu
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mobayed
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: El Hakeem
authors.forename: A A K
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Al Mulla
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sabbah
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005215:Fasting / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015994:Incidence; D007514:Islam; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests