Tehran University of Medical Sciences Frontiers in Emergency Medicine 2717-3593 4 2 2020 02 23 e22 e22 Irma Faruqi Department of Emergency Medicine, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, UAE Lateifa Al-Mazrouei Department of Emergency Medicine, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, UAE Rasha Buhumaid Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Science, Dubai, UAE 2020 01 30 2020 02 16 Introduction: Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, is, to Muslims, the holiest month of the year. During this month, young, able-bodied Muslims are commanded to abstain from food and drink from dawn to dusk. Objective: The objective of the study is to analyze emergency department (ED) patients flow during the holy month of Ramadan and compare it to non-Ramadan days. We hypothesized that Ramadan would affect ED attendance by altering peak hours, and expected a dip in attendance around evening time (after sunset). Methods: In Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, a retrospective study was conducted at a tertiary hospital (2014-2016). The data was strategically separated and patient presence was analyzed year-wise, weekday basis and based on the hourly presence of the patients in the ED of the chosen hospital. Results: A total of 45,116 ED’s patient visits were analyzed over the mentioned study period. There was a difference in the total volume of Ramadan and non-Ramadan patient between the years 2014-2016. In all of the years, the highest percentage of visits was during the non-Ramadan days and this had a small fluctuation from 53% in 2014 to 52% in 2016 (p=0.001). It was observed from the collected data that 53% of the patients were present in the hospital during the fasting hours whereas 47% were present during the non-fasting hours (p<0.001). Conclusion: We were successfully able to derive a pattern from the data of 3 years in relation to the patient flow in the ED of the hospital. Moreover, we observed the difference in the patient arrival pattern between the Ramadan and non-Ramadan days in the hospital along with the predominant categorization of patient chief complaints.  Our study identified a unique pattern of ED hourly visits during Ramadan. https://fem.tums.ac.ir/index.php/fem/article/view/342 https://fem.tums.ac.ir/index.php/fem/article/download/342/266