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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Journal of Diabetes and Endocrine Practice 2021; 04(02): 46-58
DOI: 10.4103/jdep.jdep_7_21
Review Article

Ramadan fasting and diabetes (2020): The year in review

Khadija Hafidh
1   Department of Medicine, Dubai Medical College
2   Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Rashid Hospital, DHA, Dubai
,
Khawla Ali
3   Department of Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Medical University of Bahrain, Adliya
,
Saira Abbas
2   Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Rashid Hospital, DHA, Dubai
,
Salem Beshyah
1   Department of Medicine, Dubai Medical College
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The literature on health aspects of Ramadan fasting (RF) is widely spread in many journals, making it not readily accessible to those interested in the subject. We aimed to provide a narrative overview of the global literature production in 1 year (2020) on diabetes and RF. This was a narrative, nonsystematic review of the international literature from a single major medical online database (i.e., PubMed) during the year 2020. The search term “Ramadan fasting AND Diabetes” was used, and the relevant literature was narrated in a concise thematic account. The publications spanned a vast array of topics related to RF, including assessments of safety and efficacy profiles of older and newer diabetes therapies, modes of insulin delivery, evaluating the role of utilizing advanced technology for the treatment, and monitoring of blood glucose during RF. Increased interest was evident in capturing patients' perspectives and healthcare professionals' perceptions, attitudes, and practices during Ramadan. Fasting by high-risk groups was studied. Not surprisingly, some reports covered COVID-19 and Ramadan and the role of telemedicine in ramadan. The current literature review presents this year's research data on the safety of fasting practices, care models, and patients' experiences and perspectives. It emphasizes the need for more comprehensive interventions for high-risk patients, promoting newer antidiabetic medicines, and advanced technology for safer fasting practices.

Keywords

Children and adolescents - diabetes - diabetic ketoacidosis - epidemiology - healthcare professionals - high-risk patients - hypoglycemia - literature - patients' perspectives - perceptions - Ramadan fasting - COVID-19 - ethnic - muslims

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.




Publication History

Received: 01 May 2021

Accepted: 01 May 2021

Article published online:
06 July 2022

© 2021. Gulf Association of Endocrinology and Diabetes (GAED). All rights reserved. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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