Table I.

Summary of the study characteristics included in the meta-analysis

First author, year	Country	Age range or mean age±SD (yr)	Male/female	Main outcome	Duration of fasting (days)	Time of measurements		Subgroups	Treatments	n
						Befxsore Ramadan	After Ramadan
Yeoh et al, 201733	Singapore	57±11	15/14	HbA1c (%), body weight change, blood pressure, TG	>15	Before	Last day	No subgroups	Oral antidiabetic agents alone or insulin therapy + oral antidiabetics	29
Malha et al, 201430	USA	57.0±9.6	-	HbA1c (%), hypoglycaemic events, BMI	>15	Before	Last day	A	Metformin + vildagliptin	30
		54.6±9.2	-					B	Metformin + sulphonylurea	39
Karatoprak et al, 201322	Turkey	57.4±10.1	19/57*	HbA1c (%), body weight, BMI, PPG	29	15 days	29th day	A	Insulin premix + metformin	12
								B	Insulin long-acting + metformin	13
								C	Metformin	18
								D	Metformin + pioglitazone + acarbose	17
Şahin et al, 201321	Turkey	59.93±9.57	-	PPG, FPG, HbA1c (%), body weight, fructosamine	27	Two week before	At the end of Ramadan	No subgroup	Glinides + metformin	88
Almutairi et al., 201226	Kuwait	28-67	36/64	FPG, BMI, CRP, MAP	-	-	-	No subgroup	Oral antidiabetics	100
Vasan et al, 201227	India	45±9	-	FPG, PPG, body weight, fructosamine, dietary pattern	30	One week before	One week after	No subgroup	Pioglitazone	50
Khan et al, 201234	Pakistan	52.8±8.5	38/37	Glucose level, body weight, lipid profile	>20	10 days	seventh day	No subgroup	Oral antidiabetics + insulin	75
Hassanein et al, 201132	UK	58.3±13.1	11/12	Hypoglycaemic events, HbA1c (%), body weight	>10	One-six week	≤ six week after	A	Metformin + vildagliptin	23
		57.3±11	15/21					B	Metformin + suphonylurea	36
Khaled & Belbraouet 200925	Multicenter study/Algeria	49±6	0/276	Anthropometric characteristics and nutrient intakes	-	One month before	One month after	No subgroup	Metformin + glimepiride	276
Devendra et al., 200935	UK	53.2±9.7	18/34	Body weight, hypoglycaemic event, HbA1c	>15	Two days before	10 days after	A	Metformin + vildagliptin	26
								B	Metformin + gliclazide	26
M’guil et al, 200831	Morocco	48-60	58/62*	BMI, HbA1c (%), fructosamine	30	First day	29th day	No subgroup	Gliclazide	110
Cesur et al, 200720	Turkey	56.5±9.2	29/20	FPG, PPG, HbA1c (%), fructosamine	-	Two days before	Four days after	A	Glimepiride	21
								B	Repaglinide	18
								C	Glargine	10
Patel et al, 200736	Sultanate of Oman	54.3±11.7	146/188	BMI, sugar intake, food intake, fluid intake	-	At the beginning of Ramadan	At the end of Ramadan	No subgroup	Insulin + oral antidiabetics	334
GLIRA study group, 200528	Lebanon	53.8±9.2	123/109	FPG, HbA1c (%), BMI	-	One week before	At the end of Ramadan	No subgroup	Glimepiride	232
Gustaviani et al, 200429	Indonesia	52.6±8	10/14	BMI, FPG, fructosamine	-	One week before	Two week after	No subgroup	Repaglinide	24
Sarı et al, 200419	Turkey	57.79±7	-	BMI, PPG, FPG, HbA1c (%), fructosamine	-	-	-	A	Glimepiride	23
								B	Gliclazide	17
Mafauzy, 200223	Multicenter study/Malaysia/UK/France/Saudi Arabia	52.7±7.4	87/29	FPG, HbA1c (%), BMI	-	At the beginning of Ramadan	At the end of Ramadan	A	Repaglinide	116
		54.5±6.9	82/37					B	Glibenclamide	119
Uysal, 199818	Turkey	55	11/30	HDL, LDL, HbA1c (%), BMI	-	Two week before	Last week of Ramadan	No subgroup	Diabetic diet or single or combined oral anti-diabetics	41
Belkhadir et al, 199324	Multicenter study/Morocco	33-80	391/198*	Fructosamine, HbA1c (%), body weight	-	One day before	One day after	A	Glibenclamide	78
								B	Glibenclamide	173
								C	Glibenclamide	95
								D	Glibenclamide	87
								E	Glibenclamide	101

*Mismatch in total number of patients is due to dropout. SD, standard deviation; HbA_1c, glycated haemoglobin; TG, triglyceride; BMI, body mass index; PPG, post-prandial plasma glucose; FPG, fasting plasma glucose; CRP, C-reactive protein; MAP, mean arterial pressure; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein