THE EFFECT OF SHORT TERM FASTING ON OCULAR BIOMETRY

Abstract

Introduction: Islamic religious fasting is an action inhibits people from consume any food or drink and usually observed on Mondays or Thursdays. Ocular biometry parameters which include axial length, anterior chamber angle and depth play significant role in determining the refractive power of the eye as well as in certain ocular conditions. Objective: The purpose of the study was to identify the effect of short term fasting to the ocular biometry. Method: In this prospective study, 37 healthy participants with a mean age of is 22.51 ± 0.77 years. The measurements were done on a day with non-fasting state (at 8.00 am and 4.00 pm) and one week later during the fasting period (at 8.00 am and 4.00 am). Anterior chamber and angle were measured using Pentacam HR (Oculus, Germany) while axial length was measured using A-scan (Tomey AL-3000). Result: The results indicated no significant changes between short term fasting and non-fasting state with all the variables (p > 0.05). Similarly, no significant changes during diurnal fluctuations with all the parameters (p > 0.05). Conclusion: There is no issue of reliability of the ocular biometric data while the patient is in the short term fasting state.