Fish consumption, omega-3 fatty acids and risk of heart failure: a meta-analysis.
OBJECTIVE
While marine omega-3 fatty acids have been associated with a lower mortality in heart failure patients, data on omega-3 and incident heart failure are inconsistent. We systematically reviewed the evidence on the association of omega-3 fatty acids and fish intake with the incidence of heart failure in this meta-analysis.


METHODS
We identified relevant studies by searching MEDLINE and EMBASE databases up to August 31, 2011 without restrictions and by reviewing reference lists from retrieved articles.


RESULTS
A total of 176,441 subjects and 5480 incident cases of heart failure from 7 prospective studies were included in this analysis. Using random effect model, the pooled relative risk for heart failure comparing the highest to lowest category of fish intake was 0.85 (95% CI; 0.73-0.99), p = 0.04; corresponding value for marine omega-3 fatty acids was 0.86 (0.74-1.00), p = 0.05. There was no evidence for heterogeneity across studies of fish consumption (I(2) = 8%). In contrast, there was modest heterogeneity for omega-3 fatty acid analysis (I(2) = 44%). Lastly, there was no evidence for publication bias.


CONCLUSIONS
This meta-analysis is consistent with a lower risk of heart failure with intake of marine omega-3 fatty acids. These observational findings should be confirmed in a large randomized trial.
Division of Aging, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02120, USA. ldjousse@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
Luc
L
Djoussé
Akintunde O
AO
Akinkuolie
Jason H Y
JH
Wu
Eric L
EL
Ding
J Michael
JM
Gaziano
D000818:Animals; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood; D005399:Fishes; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D012307:Risk Factors; D017747:Seafood
D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3