title: Effects of omega-3 fatty acid nutrition on mortality in septic patients: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
abstract: A previous systematic review and meta-analysis reported that omega-3 fatty acids nutrition may reduce mortality in septic patients. As new randomized controlled trials began to accumulate, we conducted an update.
  
  
  
  A PubMed database was searched through Feb 2016, and randomized controlled trials comparing omega-3 fatty acids with control were selected by two reviewers independently.
  
  
  
  Eleven trials randomly assigning 808 patients were included in the present study. Using a fixed effects model, we found no significant effect of omega-3 fatty acids on overall mortality (risk ratio 0.84; 95 % confidence interval (CI): 0.67 to 1.05, P = 0.12), or infectious complications (risk ratio 0.95; 95 % CI: 0.72 to 1.25, P = 0.70). However, the duration of mechanical ventilation was markedly reduced by omega-3 fatty acids (weighted mean differences (WMD) = -3.82; 95 % CI: -4.61 to -3.04; P < 0.00001). A significant heterogeneity was found when the duration of hospital (I (2) = 93 %; WMD = -2.82; 95 % CI: -9.88 to 4.23, P = 0.43), or intensive care stay (I (2) = 87 %; WMD = -2.70; 95 % CI: -6.40 to 1.00, P = 0.15) were investigated.
  
  
  
  Omega-3 fatty acids confer no mortality benefit but are associated with a reduction in mechanical ventilation duration in septic patients. However, low sample size and heterogeneity of the cohorts included in this analysis limits the generalizability of our findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Subei People's Hospital of Jiangsu province, Jiangsu, 225001, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Subei People's Hospital of Jiangsu province, Jiangsu, 225001, People's Republic of China. yzzxmrlps@qq.com.
authors.forename: Ping-Song
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Outpatient, Subei People's Hospital of Jiangsu province, Jiangsu, 225001, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Subei People's Hospital of Jiangsu province, Jiangsu, 225001, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yu-Sheng
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.affiliation: Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Subei People's Hospital of Jiangsu province, Jiangsu, 225001, People's Republic of China. liusen15@163.com.
authors.forename: Sen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018805:Sepsis / Q000178:diet therapy* / Q000401:mortality*
chemical_list: D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3
keywords: Mortality; Omega-3 fatty acids; Sepsis