Fish-Oil Supplementation and Cardiovascular Events in Patients Receiving Hemodialysis.
In a large trial of people on long-term hemodialysis, taking fish oil every day cut serious heart and blood-vessel events roughly in half compared with a placebo.
Background
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in patients receiving hemodialysis, and effective preventive therapies remain limited. The benefit of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in this population was uncertain.
Study design
Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial at 26 sites in Canada and Australia; 1228 adults on maintenance hemodialysis were assigned to daily fish oil (610) or corn-oil placebo (618) and followed for 3.5 years. The primary end point was a composite of serious cardiovascular events.
Key findings
Serious cardiovascular events occurred at 0.31 vs 0.61 per 1000 patient-days (HR 0.57). Cardiac death (HR 0.55), fatal and nonfatal myocardial infarction (HR 0.56), amputation from peripheral vascular disease (HR 0.57) and stroke (HR 0.37) were all lower, as was a first cardiovascular event or death from any cause (HR 0.73).
Safety
Adherence and the incidence of adverse events did not differ meaningfully between the fish-oil and placebo groups.
Category
News
Source
The New England Journal of Medicine
More from ASNRT News
Browse the latest news, society announcements, KDIGO guideline updates, and AJNT issue releases on the ASNRT newsroom.