Omega-3 Does Not Prevent Atrial Fibrillation

Omega-3 Does Not Prevent Atrial Fibrillation.
Omega-3 fatty acid supplements don't adulterate back on recurrences of atrial fibrillation, a prototype of extraordinary heartbeat that can cause stroke, rejuvenated research suggests. "We now have definitive data that they don't off for most patients with AF atrial fibrillation ," said Dr Peter R Kowey, prima ballerina creator of a study appearing in the Dec 1, 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association that is also scheduled to be presented Monday at the American Heart Association's annual encounter in Chicago. "Although we can't eject the chance of efficacy in sicker AF patients, it would be heartless to believe that it would work in that population and not in healthier patients manfaat. So for judicious purposes, yes, this is the end of the line in AF".

This study, the largest of its kind, looked at patients with AF who were otherwise healthy. "We cannot assert there is any convincing reveal of a role for omega-3 in the prevention of atrial fibrillation," added Dr Ranjit Suri, skipper of the Electrophysiology Service and Cardiac Arrhythmia Center at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, who was not confusing with the trial. The bookwork was funded by GlaxoSmithKline.

Omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in fatty fish such as salmon and albacore tuna, had showed some indicate in preventing pump ailment in earlier trials. Of the total 663 outpatient participants, 542 had paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, which appears all at once and resolves on its own, and 121 had inflexible atrial fibrillation, which needs treatment.

Participants were randomized to gross either a placebo or 8 grams of omega-3 supplements continually for the first week, followed by 4 grams a era for the remaining 23 weeks of the trial. The doses worn in the study are available only by prescription and are "higher than doses heretofore published in studies," said Dr Robert Block, a cardiologist and underling professor of community and preventive pharmaceutical at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

At the end of six months, 46 percent of those in the placebo bring and 52 percent of those prepossessing omega-3 supplements experienced recurrences. The numbers of paroxysmal AF patients in the placebo and healing groups who had AF recurrences were about similar (48 percent and 52 percent, respectively), the investigators found.

In patients with undeviating AF, more patients in the omega-3 arm had recurrences than in the placebo order (50 percent and 33 percent, respectively). But experts haven't ruled out a imaginable function for omega-3 in other types of patients, such as those with heart failure. "Our statistics do not speak to other cardiac indications," said Kowey, who is president of the Main Line Health Heart Center and a professor of medicament and clinical pharmacology at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.

So "There has been conflicting information there as well and a jump over need for accurate studies like ours in those indications". "Omega-3 may be supportive in patients with high triglycerides and bad overall cholesterol profiles or family prone to electric storms in the heart who are at risk of sudden death," said Suri. Block recommends that patients with cardiovascular virus dine two servings of oily fish weekly, or three over-the-counter omega-3 capsules a day medrxcheck. In those with no cardiovascular disease, "there is no business-like decisive benefit," but they still might also want to tie on the nosebag fish regularly, he said.