Diabetes and Ramadan

My name is Asma Deeb. I’m the Chief of Paediatric Endocrinology at Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City in Abu Dhabi. I am the first author of the latest ISPAD consensus guidelines, which are about children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes fasting during Ramadan. We had these consensus guidelines endorsed by multiple international paediatric endocrinology societies, including the Arab Society of Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology, the African Society of Paediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology, the Latin American Paediatric Endocrinology Society, the Asia Pacific Paediatric Endocrinology Society, as well as GPED (Global Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes). We thought about writing these guidelines because the topic is extremely controversial. Having children fasting during Ramadan is, in itself, quite debatable and controversial, never mind those with type 1 diabetes, who have perceived risks of fasting because of their condition. The main reason we came together to write this was because there are no solid data in the literature that help us to answer questions from families and adolescents when they ask for our opinion about their safety and ability to fast at Ramadan. So, while this collection of agreement or consensus guidelines has been put together from senior people around the world in the field of paediatric diabetes, we still feel that it’s very much the first step towards more concrete evidence to answer questions about this controversial topic.

Deeb A, Elbarbary N, Smart CE, Beshyah SA, Habeb A, Kalra S, Al Alwan I, Babiker A, Al Amoudi R, Pulungan AB, Humayun K, Issa U, Jalaludin MY, Sanhay R, Akanov Z, Krogvold L, de Beaufort C. ISPAD Clinical Practice Consensus Guidelines: Fasting during Ramadan by young people with diabetes. Pediatr Diabetes. 2020 Feb;21(1):5-17.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31659852