Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Makkah (https://goo.gl/maps/47x1l), attracts two million Muslim men and women, including over 45,000 Hajjis (pilgrims) from the European Union [
1
,
2
]. It is an arduous and physically challenging event [
[1]
], and cardiovascular diseases are the principal causes of death during the Hajj [
[3]
]. With a worldwide diabetes prevalence of 8.5% [
[4]
], the Hajj will host 170,000 people with diabetes — a gross underestimation as many
Hajjis come from areas of much higher urban adult diabetes rates. For instance, European
pilgrims are generally from ethnicities with higher prevalence of diabetes with a
reported prevalence of 21% amongst travellers from France [
[5]
]. Similarly, most Hajjis from the UK are of south Asian descent, who has an estimated diabetes prevalence
of 14% [
[6]
]. Furthermore, one observational study reported a diabetes prevalence of 31% amongst
pilgrims admitted to a tertiary hospital in Makkah during the Hajj season; [
[7]
] this may also reflect higher morbidity in diabetic pilgrims. Pre-Hajj screening and
intervention have been shown to reduce overall cardiovascular mortality and hospitalisation
rates [
[3]
]. In our view, health improvement measures in pilgrims with diabetes would go a long
way in reducing mortality and morbidity during the Hajj.Keywords
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References
- Saudi Arabia: Hajj Pilgrimage.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015
- Laboratory-confirmed invasive meningococcal disease: effect of the Hajj vaccination policy, Saudi Arabia, 1995 to 2011.Euro Surveill. 2013; 18
- Cardiovascular disease in Hajj pilgrims.J. Saudi Heart Assoc. 2012; 24: 123-127
- IDF diabetes atlas: global estimates of the prevalence of diabetes for 2011 and 2030.Diabetes Res. Clin. Pract. 2011; 94: 311-321
- Pilgrims from Marseille, France, to Mecca: demographics and vaccination status.J. Travel Med. 2007; 14: 132-133
- The Association of Public Health Observatories (APHO) diabetes prevalence model: estimates of total diabetes prevalence for England, 2010–2030.Diabet. Med. 2011; 28: 575-582
- Pattern of medical diseases and determinants of prognosis of hospitalization during 2005 Muslim pilgrimage Hajj in a tertiary care hospital. A prospective cohort study.Saudi Med. J. 2006; 27: 1373-1380
- The Hajj.BMJ. 2011; 343: d5593
- Foot ailments during Hajj: a short report.J. Epidemiol. Glob. Health. 2015; 5: 291-294
- Saudi Arabia has several strategies to care for pilgrims on the Hajj.BMJ. 2011; 343: d7731
Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 18, 2015
Accepted:
September 7,
2015
Received:
August 22,
2015
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
