The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7193 p487-492
13 April 2002

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Antiarrhythmic role for fish oil

Daily supplements of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are found in fish oil, halve the risk of sudden death in patients who have survived a recent myocardial infarction (MI), say researchers.

Italian researchers analysed data for 11,323 patients surviving a recent (within three months) MI who had been assigned to receive supplements of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamin E, both or neither. They assessed the time course of the benefit of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on mortality in these patients and found that total mortality was reduced after three months of treatment and a reduction in the risk of sudden death was significant at four months.

The researchers say that to save one patient in a population at relatively low risk of mortality after MI (annual mortality 2.6 per cent), 164 patients would need to be treated for one year with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. They conclude that the findings support an antiarrhythmic and/or antifibrillatory role of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. The study will be published in Circulation (2002;105:1897).