The effect of fasting on cerebral venous and dural sinus thrombosis

Objective: To determine whether fasting would affect the frequency of cerebral venous and sinus thrombosis compared to other months. Methods: All patients (n=162) with cerebral venous and sinus thrombosis admitted to three neurological centers from 2001 to 2006 in the Isfahan City were included in this study. Patients were divided into two groups according to the month of onset of cerebral venous and sinus thrombosis. The first group included patients with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis that occurred while fasting (n=33) and the second group was composed of patients with onset in other months, while not fasting (n=129). We evaluated the number of cases per month and compared ages, gender and the distribution of new cases during fasting versus non-fasting months. Results: From 2001 to 2006, the mean number of patients' diagnosis during fasting month was 5.5 versus mean number of patients during all other non-fasting months that was 1.95. The analysis showed a significantly increased frequency of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis events in Ramadan compared to other months (p=0.000). Conclusions: Our findings indicate that fasting increases frequency of cerebral venous and sinus thrombosis. These findings are inconsistent with other reported studies on arterial stroke and need to be confirmed by other studies. It seems that healthy people have no problem with regard to cerebral venous and sinus thrombosis while fasting, but susceptible persons, such as those with hypercoagulable states and women who take oral contraceptive pills, may be at increased risk. [Neurol Res 2009; 31: 794-798]