Metabolic Changes in Epileptic Patients Experiencing Seizure During Fasting in the Ramadan

Abstract

Introduction: Fasting during the month of Ramadan can leads to changes in the electrolyte and hematocrit balance. We compared the metabolic situations of epilepsy patients who presented to the emergency department following a seizure, either when fasting during the month of Ramadan or during normal periods.

Method: The study included 20 consecutive patients experiencing an epileptic seizure while fasting during the month of Ramadan in 2010, and other 20 patients who experienced a seizure while not fasting.All patients presented to the emergency service of Ankara Training and Research Hospital.Venous blood gas, full blood count, kidney function tests, sodium, potassium, chlorine, blood glucose and full urine analysis were required for the patients. The patients were followed for approximately 12 hours.

Findings: No statistically significant differences were observed between the fasting group and control group in terms of average age of the patients and gender distributions.No significant differences were observed in terms of blood pH, anion gap, osmolarity,or base deficit (p>0.05). Ketone level was significantly higher in the urine of the fasting group (p<0.047).
Conclusion:
There was no significant difference found in metabolic changes between fasting epilepsy patients and the control group. The only significant difference was the higher levels of ketone in fasting epilepsy patients compared ton on-fasting group.