Evaluation of fasting effects during the Holy month of Ramadan on patients with epileptic attacks who visited the Emergency Room

Epilepsy is one of the most common disorders of central nervous system. A lot of factors affect the occurrence and severity of Epileptic Attacks (EAs). Food is one of the most challenging of the factors. Fasting during Ramadan is one of the important requirement in Islam and it has always been challenging for the epileptic patients. This study evaluated the number of admitted cases to Emergency Room (ER) by epileptic Attacks patients during Ramadan.

This prospective and cross sectional study evaluated all ER visits during the months of Shaaban, Ramadan, and Shavval by EAs (all were convulsions). In this study, the mean average of ER visits frequency was compared between the three months. The differences were significant P<0.05, between the mean average of EAs.

From the 156 cases, half were male and half were female. Frequency of EAs were 68, 35 and 53 for the months of Shaaban, Ramadan and Shavval respectively. It was noticed that there were about 40% reduction in ER visits during the month of Ramadan, mainly due to discontinuance of antiepileptic drugs.

During the Holy month of Ramadan, the number of visits to the ER due to EA (convulsions) decreased. Two mechanisms are involved for the reduced number of epileptic discharges and control of their occurrence: consumption of high fat diet and bigger protein portions, plus reduced food consumption. Other factors can be reduced travel during Ramadan, better administration of drug, and the peaceful psyche attributed to this month.