Research gaps in Ramadan fasting studies in health and disease

Background and aim: Ramadan fasting is a religious fasting of Muslims and has many effects on health and disease. This study aim was to analyze Ramadan fasting research output during the past five years and identify research gaps in this field.

Materials and methods: A systematic search was performed in Web of Science, pubmed, Scopus, EMBASE and Cochrane databases by appropriate keywords. Documents published between January 2015 and January 2020 with English language were included. After removing duplicates, remained documents were screened and classified.

Results: Finally, after screening, 393 documents remained and were classified. Of these documents, 53 were review article and 338 original articles. More than 96% of studies were clinical study while basic science studies were too limited. Among the study topics, diabetes mellitus with 31% was the most common topic followed by metabolic disorders and nutrition, respectively.

Conclusion: Ramadan fasting is an important religious issue that needs more attention. Research should be directed to clinical and basic studies in different health and disease conditions other than nutrition and metabolic disorders.