Multi-country retrospective observational study of the management and outcomes of patients with Type 2 diabetes during Ramadan in 2010 (CREED).

Aim: To describe the characteristics and management of patients with diabetes who chose to fast during Ramadan in 2010.

Methods: This was a multi-country, retrospective, observational study, supplemented with physician and patient questionnaires, with data captured before, during and after Ramadan. A total of 508 physicians in 13 countries enrolled 3777 patients and a total of 3394 evaluable cases were analysed. We report on the subset of patients with Type 2 diabetes, which included 3250 patients (95.8%).

Results: Oral anti-hyperglycaemic therapy was the predominant pre-Ramadan therapy for most patients (76.6%). The treatment regimen was modified before Ramadan for 39.3% of all patients (34.9% for patients on oral drugs alone, 47.1% for patients on injectable drugs alone). Almost all physicians (96.2%) reported providing fasting-specific advice to patients and 62.6% report using guidelines or recommendations for the management of diabetes during Ramadan. In all, 64% of patients reported fasting everyday of Ramadan and 94.2% fasted for at least 15 days.

Conclusions: Physicians have increasingly adopted multiple approaches to the management of fasting during Ramadan, including the adoption of international and/or national guidelines, providing fasting-specific advice and adjusting treatment regimens, such that patients are able to fast for a greater number of days without acute complications. Additional research is needed to explore physician and patient beliefs and practices to inform the evidence-based management of diabetes while fasting, both during and outside of Ramadan, and to identify and address barriers to the universal uptake of techniques to facilitate that management.