Intraocular Pressure Changes During Ramadan Fasting: Effect of Change in Weight and Review of Available Reports

Abstract

Background: Ramadan fasting (RF) alters many systemic milieus. Dehydration from fasting may cause weight loss, while sedentary lifestyle of some Muslims during fasting results in weight gain. RF is associated with low intraocular pressure (IOP). We aim to find out changes in IOP and its relationship to weight changes during and after Ramadan fasting.

Materials and Methods: IOP of eligible males was measured at 0900, 1200 and 1500 hours (hrs). Mean fasting IOP (FIOP) and non-fasting IOP (NFIOP) of both eyes at each period were calculated. Weights were also taken during fasting and after fasting. FIOP and NFIOP were compared using paired t-test for all participants category (1) and participants in different categories of weight changes found during fasting: Those who lost weight during fasting, category (2). Those whose weights were unchanged, category (3), and those who gained weight category (4)

Results: There were 51eligible males, category (1) consisting 38, 5 and 8 participants in categories 2, 3 and 4 respectively. Mean weight (Kg) of participants were: fasting 64.000, and non-fasting 65.853, P < .001. At 0900hrs, FIOP was higher than NFIOP but not reaching significant level in all categories. At 1500 hrs however, FIOP was significantly lower than NFIOP for categories 1 and 2 but not significantly for categories 3 and 4.

Conclusion: Findings of the few previous works are conflicting. IOP changes during Ramadan may be a manifestation of changes in weight only. We suggest further works should categorize participants according to weight changes during fasting before analysing IOP.

Keywords: Ramadan Fasting, Intraocular Pressure, Weight Effect