title: How do patients with asthma and COPD behave during fasting?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Several factors might affect the adherence to treatment in patients with asthma and COPD. Among these factors, the effect of religious beliefs and behaviours has been less studied so far. In this study, the effect of fasting on drug use behaviours of patients with asthma and COPD were comparatively analysed.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 150 adult patients with asthma and 150 adult patients with COPD were consecutively enrolled into this cross-sectional study. The patients were asked whether they fast during Ramadan and if the answer was yes, they were kindly asked to respond to further questions related to use of inhaled medications during that particular time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of the cases from both groups [98 (65.3%) of asthma patients and 139 (92.6%) of COPD] were fasting during Ramadan. The majority of the patients with COPD (n=126; 90.6%) reported that they quitted their regular therapy basis during Ramadan. On the other hand, the majority of asthma patients used their controller inhaled medications during Ramadan and preferred to use them on iftar and sahur times (n=81, 82.6%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results showed that in a Muslim population, the patients with asthma and COPD do not feel their diseases to be an inhibitory factor for fasting during Ramadan. However, fasting seems to be an important determining factor in medication compliance by modifying the drug use behaviours in each group in a different way. Therefore, the patients should be informed about the effects of fasting on their disease and the allowed drugs during fasting.
authors.affiliation: Ankara University School of Medicine, Department of Chest Diseases, Division of Immunology and Allergy, Ankara, Turkey. Electronic address: mdomuraydin@gmail.com.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Aydin
authors.affiliation: Ankara University School of Medicine, Department of Chest Diseases, Division of Immunology and Allergy, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Celik
authors.affiliation: Ankara University School of Medicine, Department of Chest Diseases, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Z P
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Onen
authors.affiliation: Ankara University School of Medicine, Department of Chest Diseases, Division of Immunology and Allergy, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.affiliation: Ankara University School of Medicine, Department of Chest Diseases, Division of Immunology and Allergy, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.affiliation: Ankara University School of Medicine, Department of Chest Diseases, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yildiz
authors.affiliation: Ankara University School of Medicine, Department of Chest Diseases, Division of Immunology and Allergy, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mungan
authors.affiliation: Ankara University School of Medicine, Department of Chest Diseases, Division of Immunology and Allergy, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Demirel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012067:Religion; D014421:Turkey