The Effect of Ramadan Fasting during the Third Trimester of Pregnancy on the Anthropometric Indexes in Be’sat Hospital of Sanandaj(2002)

Introduction: Contrary to medical advice, some Muslim pregnant women fast during Ramadan.  The aim of this study is to determine the effect of fasting on the ponderal index of their neonates.

Materials and Methods: This retrospective study looked at a cohort of 179 neonates of pregnant women whose Ramadan month fell in the third trimester at Besat Hospital of Sanandaj. 62 of these women had fasted during Ramadan compared to 100 who had not, and thus the latter acted as a control group.  The 17 mothers who had fasted were excluded from the study. The data were collected through interviews with the mothers and examination of hospital documents and were analyzed by independent T-test, Kruskal-Wallis and ANOVA .

Results: In this study the difference between mean birthweight of the both groups was not statistically significant (3,313.0g ± 533 and 3,346.5g ± 377 respectively).  There were no statistically-significant differences between mean supine length (49.74cm ±1.84 and 49.9cm ± 1.89) and head circumference (39.65cm ±1.57 and 34.57cm ±1.37) too.

Conclusion: Fasting during the third trimester of pregnancy has no effect on the anthropometric indexes of neonates.