The Safeness of Ramadan Fasting Among Patients Who Have Undergone Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: a Cross-sectional Descriptive Study

Abstract

Background: The rise of Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PPCI) procedure as an option for treating Coronary Artery Diseases demands addressing a variety of concerns in the recovery period and afterward including fasting the Ramadan month in the countries with the prevailing Muslim population. Therefore this study aims to assess the ability and the safety of fasting among patients who underwent PPCI within two specified periods.Method: This study was a prospective observational study with a sample size of 200 consecutive patients that have been divided into two groups based on the duration of their last PCI for an attack of Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI). The patients were admitted to the Causality Department of the Surgical Specialty Hospital-Cardiac Center, Erbil/Iraq. The studied data have been analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science version 25 (SPSS), and a P-value of ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: The proportion of fasting and non-fasting patients showed a significant association with the duration of their last PCI procedure with a P-value of 0.001 as 14% in Group I (patients with less than 6 weeks duration post-PCI) successfully fasted the month while it was 54% in Group II (Patients with more than 6 weeks duration post PCI). Among our findings, there were significant associations with P-values of 0.001 between post-PCI symptoms and Ramadan fasting. In regards to NYHA classifications assessment, Group I had a higher proportion of patients classified as Class III and Class IV compared to Group II with a significant P-value of 0.001 with proportions of class III classification in Group I of 14.3% among fasting, 17.1% among non-fasting, and 58.3% among those who could not continue their fasting while in Group II, the proportions showed 3.7% among fasting, 6.7% among non-fasting, and 0% among those who could not continue their fasting.Conclusion: We discourage fasting among patients who have undergone Percutaneous Coronary Intervention within the first 6 weeks, as well as patients who have NYHA class III and above as they are highly liable for deterioration and can not continue their fasting.