Association between islamic fasting and quality of life, physical disability, disease activity and depression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease that due to destruction and deformity of the joints, is associated with physical disability, mental problems and reduced quality of life of patients. Several therapeutic advantages for fasting are mentioned in recent studies and islamic references. One of these advantages is decreasing the severity of auto-immune diseases. This study was performed with the aim of evaluating the effect of fasting on quality of life, physical disability, disease activity and depression in RA patients.
In this prospective study, 25 eligible women with RA were participated in the study. Quality of life (SF-36), physical disability (HAQ), disease activity (DAS-28) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) questionnaires were completed for patients in four sessions in days zero (before Ramadan), 30, 60 and 90. Analysis were performed with SPSS-16 statistical software using a general linear model with repeated measure and Bonferroni adjustment for the subsequent comparisons. The significance level of 5% was considered for the test.
Mean age ± SD of the 25 participating patients was 43.8 ± 11.2. Changes in the quality of life (p=0.002) and the depression scores (p=0.029) during the study were statistically significant and relatively stable. While changes in other indicators showed a numerical improvement of the situation immediately after Ramadan (day 30) comparing to what it was before, but these changes were not statistically significantand were not stable during the time.
This study confirmed the relationship between fasting and improvement of quality of life and the level of depression in patients with RA. Due to the side effects of the common drugs, more detailed studies is recommended to use fasting as a complementary method in order to reduce the dosage of drugs and symptoms of patients.