The influence of religious fasting on basal tear secretion and tear break-up time

Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn to sunset during the holy mon th of Ramadan. An extended strict fasting may influence tear secretion and quality. We investigated changes in basal tear secretion (BTS) and tear bre ak-up time (BUT) at the beginning and at the end of fasting on 32 healthy m ale patients with a mean age of 22.3 +/- 2.9 years. Body weight and urine s pecific gravity were also determined to assess the extent of dehydration du e to fasting. Each case lost 0.1-1.25 kg of body weight while urine specifi c gravity changes were statistically insignificant. Mean BTS amount was 19. 9 +/- 10.9 mm at the initial examination and 19.7 +/- 11.5 mm at the end of fasting (p=0.9). BUT values were 20.1 +/- 9.3 sec at the beginning of fast ing and 23.5 +/- 14.9 sec at the end of fasting (p=0.19). We found that rel igious fasting in the winter season does not seem to affect BTS and BUT val ues in healthy individuals.