Adverse Events During Medically Supervised Water-Only Fasting 2006-2011

768 patient visits from 2006 to 2011 were reviewed for adverse events during medically supervised, water-only fasting. The data includes 555 visits with a highest grade adverse event of grade 2 or lower, 212 with grade 3, and 1 with grade 4. It was compiled by John S. Finnell from electronic charts of a residential medical facility.

Use Cases

• Analyze the distribution of highest grade adverse events (HGAE) across 768 patient visits to assess fasting safety.
• Investigate the correlation between fast length and the occurrence of serious adverse events (SAEs) reported in 2 visits.
• Model the prevalence of mild adverse events, which constituted 75% (n=4490) of all identified events, against patient demographics.
• Classify adverse event types using CTCAE and MedDRA terminology to identify common reactions to water-only fasting.

Strengths

• Data covers 768 patient visits meeting strict inclusion criteria from a total of 2539 reviewed charts.
• Adverse events are classified using standardized CTCAE (v4.03) and MedDRA (v12.1) terminology.
• Study period spans 5 years (2006-2011) of data from a residential medical facility.

Limitations

• Sample size is limited to 768 visits, which may restrict statistical power for rare event analysis.
• Data is sourced from a single medical facility, limiting geographic and demographic generalizability.
• The chart review methodology is retrospective and reliant on the completeness of clinical notes.

Provenance

Source

Dryad

Collection Method

Retrospective electronic chart review of patient visits to a residential medical facility.

Time Range

2006 to 2011

Freshness

Data was last updated in 2020.