Rahila Ali, Hemna Siddiqui, Anjum Q, Mohammad Ishaq Lohar, Shazia Sultana Shaikh.
Knowledge and perception of patients regarding medicine intake during Ramadan.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;17(2):112-3.

The aim of this study was to determine the perception of patients attending the Primary Health Care Center of Ziauddin Hospital regarding drug intake and certain procedures permissible during fast. Majority of the patients, attending the PHC, belong to the low socioeconomic class. A pre-tested questionnaire was used for interviewing patients who visited the centre for any medical complaint. Patients who were mentally retarded, deaf, dumb or suffering from psychosocial illness were excluded from the study. The interviews were conducted by family practitioners with the help of a translator, if the need arose (Pushto was the most widely spoken language in the studied group). The questionnaire included items on alteration in dosing schedule with fast, the knowledge of intake of drugs during fasting with respect to their route of administration, as well as assessing what certain procedures and examinations will nullify fast. Only 92 questionnaires were filled for the whole month. A total of 92 patients participated in this study, with 38 males (41%) and 54 females (58.7%) making the male to female ratio as 1.8:3. The mean age of the respondents was 33 + 11.3 years. Majority (n=78, 84.8%) were married, 12(13.0%) were unmarried and 2(1.2%) were either divorced or separated. More than half of the respondents, 55 (59.78%), had little or no education, 29(52.72%) were educated upto matric and only 8(8.69%) had some form of higher education. Half of the patients (n=47, 51%) were housewives, 17(18.47%) were skilled laborers, 19(20.65%) were unskilled employees in different categories and 3(3.2%) each were health care workers, retired professionals and students respectively. A large number (n=69, 75%) were suffering from an illness, out of which, 31(45%) had chronic diseases. Among the chronic diseases, 10 patients had hypertension, 8 were diabetic, 3 each were suffering either from tuberculosis, asthma, hepatitis or arthritis and only one had depression. Out of the 69 patients, 61(88%) were taking medications and only 22/61 (36%) had received information from their health care providers on how to take drugs during fasting. Only 12 patients followed the regular dosing schedule (once daily or twice daily doses), whereas drug regimen was altered by 47(51%) of the patients during fast, 39 took tablets at different times, of which, 31 missed doses and 8 took tablets altogether at one time.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com