A single day fasting may increase emergency room visits due to renal colic

• Published in: Scientific reports 2021-03, Vol.11 (1), p.6578-6578, Article 6578
• Main Authors: Zilberman, Dorit E., Drori, Tomer, Shvero, Asaf, Mor, Yoram, Winkler, Harry Z., Kleinmann, Nir
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 692/308/174; 692/4025; 692/699/1585/273; Emergency medical care; Fasting; Food consumption; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-86254-7

We aimed to explore whether a single-day of fasting (SDF) increase emergency room (ER) visits due to renal colic (RC). We elected to concentrate on Yom-Kippur (i.e.: SDF), the holiest day in Judaism. Food and liquid consumption is prohibited during this day for 25 h, and an estimated 50–70% fasting rate is observed. SDF always takes place between mid-September and mid-October during which the temperature in the Middle-East ranges between 19 and 30 °C. ER visits for RC between 01/2012 and 11/2019 were reviewed, and the Gregorian days on which SDF occurred were retrieved. The number of ER visits for RC was compared between SDF and the surrounding days/months as well as to another single-day "standard" holiday (SDSH) that precedes SDF in 10 days and is not associated with fasting. Of 11,717 ER visits for RC, 8775 (74.9%) were males. Male:Female ratio was 3:1. The mean daily number of ER visits for RC during the 3 days following SDF was 6.66 ± 2.49, significantly higher compared with the mean annual daily visits (4.1 ± 2.27, p