Research in Medicine

Background: The long-term effects of Ramadan fasting during pregnancy on the brain development of the fetus are still not clear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of maternal fasting during Ramadan on the intelligence quotient of their progeny.

Materials and methods: A historical cohort study conducted on 191 children aged between 4 to 13 years and their mothers. Of these, 98 mothers fasted throughout Ramadan when they were pregnant (case group) and 93 mothers did not fast during pregnancy (control group). The children were selected from 15 schools via a questionnaire filled out by their mothers. Detailed demographic, medical history, and socioeconomic status data were collected by interviewing the mothers. All children aged between 6 to 13 years were administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Revised (WISC-R), and those aged between 4 to 6 were administered Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence (WPPSI), and intelligence quotient was estimated.

Results: Cases included 47 boys and 51 girls with the mean (± standard deviation) age of 8.5±2.5 years and controls included 44 boys and 49 girls with the mean age of 8.7±2.5 years. There was no significant difference in sex and age. Among background and confounding variables, caesarian section percentage and breast-feeding duration were significantly different between case and control groups 29% caesarian section in cases vs. 45% in controls (p<0.05) and 17.7±9 months of breast-feeding for cases vs. 14.5±9 months for controls (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in socioeconomic status of families between the groups whereas socioeconomic status accounted for approximately 17% of the variances in the average of full-scale intelligence quotient scores. Adjusted mean and standard deviation of full-scale intelligence quotient scores, performance and verbal were 111±10, 109±11 and 110±11 for the case group and 112±10, 110±11 and 110±11 for the control group respectively. No significant differences were observed between the intelligence quotient scores of the two groups.

Conclusion: Maternal fasting during pregnancy did not adversely affect child's intelligence quotients.