Effect of Ramadan fasting on patients with different kidney diseases: An updated review

Ramadan fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam and is compulsory for all adult Muslims who have no medical or religious excuses. Ramadan fasting is defined as a complete abstinence from food, drink, medications, sexual activity, and smoking from dawn to dusk. Regarding the kind Islamic religion, patients have permission not to fast according to the medical advice. However, most Muslim patients express their desire to fast during Ramadan month and they are very broken when their physicians inform them not to fast. There are a lot of controversies regarding Ramadan fasting for chronic kidney diseases (CKD) and hemodialysis patients with absence of strict guidelines that help nephrologists in this issue. Renal transplant recipients who have stable kidney function for at least 1 year post-transplantation can fast with cautious follow-up. Risk of dehydration due to fasting for long periods especially in the summer season is the main concern for patients with kidney stone diseases. There is still no strong evidence if that Ramadan fasting can induce renal stone formation in susceptible patients or not. However, most studies have shown that fasting for this kind of patients with good hydration after breaking the fast may be allowed without significant risk of renal colic incidence. According to the last published guidelines by the International Diabetes Federation and Diabetes and Ramadan International Alliance, Chronic dialysis or CKD stages 4 and 5 and CKD stage 3 patients are considered to be at very high risk and high risk categories, respectively, and are exempted from fasting.