Cardiovascular disease and Ramadan. A literature review

We review the literature on the safety of fasting in cardiac patients. We examined the changes of blood pressure among hypertensive patients and the incidence of cardiac events during Ramadan in patients with coronary disease and heart failure. We also assess the modifications of INR levels in cardiac patients who take oral anticoagulant. We found that Ramadan fasting is safe in stable cardiac patients, even under several drugs. Fasting does not affect blood pressure. There is no difference in regards to cardiac event incidence between Ramadan and the non-fasting-months. The level of INR is slightly higher when fasting, it is thus recommended to monitor patients with high bleeding risk during Ramadan.