Effect of religious fasting in Ramadan on blood pressure: results from LORANS (London Ramadan Study) and a meta-analysis.
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background Ramadan fasting is practiced by hundreds of millions every year. This ritual practice changes diet and lifestyle dramatically; thus, the effect of Ramadan fasting on blood pressure must be determined. Methods and Results LORANS (London Ramadan Study) is an observational study, systematic review, and meta-analysis. In LORANS, we measured systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of 85 participants before and right after Ramadan. In the systematic review, studies were retrieved from PubMed, Embase, and Scopus from inception to March 3, 2020. We meta-analyzed the effect from these studies and unpublished data from LORANS. We included observational studies that measured SBP and/or DBP before Ramadan and during the last 2 weeks of Ramadan or the first 2 weeks of the month after. Data appraisal and extraction were conducted by at least 2 reviewers in parallel. We pooled SBP and DBP using a random-effects model. The systematic review is registered with PROSPERO (International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews; CRD42019159477). In LORANS, 85 participants were recruited; mean age was 45.6±15.9 years, and 52.9% (n=45) of participants were men. SBP and DBP after Ramadan fasting were lower by 7.29 mm Hg (-4.74 to -9.84) and 3.42 mm Hg (-1.73 to -5.09), even after adjustment for potential confounders. We identified 2778 studies of which 33 with 3213 participants were included. SBP and DBP after/before Ramadan were lower by 3.19 mm Hg (-4.43 to -1.96, I2=48%) and 2.26 mm Hg (-3.19 to -1.34, I2=66%), respectively. In subgroup analyses, lower blood pressures were observed in the groups who are healthy or have hypertension or diabetes but not in patients with chronic kidney disease. Conclusions Our study suggests beneficial effects of Ramadan fasting on blood pressure independent of changes in weight, total body water, and fat mass and supports recommendations for some governmental guidelines that describe Ramadan fasting as a safe religious practice with respect to blood pressure.
Date Issued
2021-10-08
Date Acceptance
2021-08-16
Citation
Journal of the American Heart Association, 2021, 10 (20), pp.1-36
ISSN
2047-9980
Publisher
Wiley
Start Page
1
End Page
36
Journal / Book Title
Journal of the American Heart Association
Volume
10
Issue
20
Copyright Statement
© 2021 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use
is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use
is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34619991
Subjects
Ramadan fasting
diastolic blood pressure
hypertension
meta‐analysis
systematic review
systolic blood pressure
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Date Publish Online
2021-10-08