Community pharmacists’ knowledge of diabetes management during Ramadan in Egypt

Abstract

This study identifies variability among community pharmacists' knowledge of diabetes management during Ramadan. It also shows willingness among the majority of pharmacists to learn more about the topic.

Fasting, Diabetes, and Optimizing Health Outcomes for Ramadan Observers: A Literature Review

“…Therefore, it is logical that community pharmacists can help people with diabetes who are observing the fast of Ramadan by providing information and helping to adjust medications. Pharmacists’ awareness of and willingness to do so was evident to some extent in the needs analysis studies included in this review [13, 20, 32, 42]. There were no studies describing the effect of well-designed structured clinical interventions delivered by pharmacists to patients with diabetes fasting during Ramadan.…”

“…The studies that were located in the literature had several limitations; however, put together, these needs analysis (pre-intervention), in the case of those conducted with pharmacists’, highlighted that pharmacists have the ability to enact specific roles in adjustments of medication regimens for patients observing fasts with concomitant diabetes [13, 20, 32, 45]. Hence, it would be ideal to upskill pharmacists so they can adjust medication regimens for patients to ensure that they take their medications safely and appropriately before, during, and after Ramadan.…”

“…Diabetes is actually the most common illness studied with regard to Ramadan [13–18]. Fasting has the obvious potential to disrupt diabetes management as a result of the reduced food, drink, and medication intake during certain hours [17].…”

“…One of the potential adverse effect risks of taking antidiabetic medications and fasting can be hypoglycemia. Other issues that may occur include hyperglycemia, hyperglycemic-hyperosmolar state, and diabetic ketoacidosis [13, 20]. Several studies have attempted to document the effect of fasting on diabetes.…”

Pharmacists’ care of diabetes patients during Ramadan

“…It was encouraging to read the recent report of ''Community pharmacists' knowledge of diabetes management during Ramadan in Egypt'' by Amin and Chewning [1] highlighting the potential for pharmacists to fulfill this public health education role. In the Middle East in particular, this is a prevalent aspect of diabetes care, not only during Ramadan, but also during other periods patients choose to fast throughout the year.…”