Articol

Omega-3 fatty acids and malignant ventricular arrhythmias in patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillator

Omega-3 fatty acids and malignant ventricular arrhythmias in patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillator

27th European Cardiology Conference

October 22-24, 2018 | Rome, Italy

 

Authors:

 

Sabrina Zeghichi-Hamri, Patricia Salen, Michel de Lorgeril and Pascal Defaye

 

 

1Université de Béjaia. Faculté des Sciences de la Nature et de la Vie. Bejaia. Algeria.
2TIMC-IMAG CNRS 5525. Université Joseph Fourier.
3Service de Cardiologie. Hôpital Universitaire. Grenoble. France.

 

Source:

 

Journal of Clinical & Experimental Cardiology

 


Background:

 

Studies that evaluated the effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3) on cardiovascular diseases have yielded conflicting results. We aimed at examining the association between plant/marine n-3 and malignant ventricular arrhythmias (MVA) among patients benefiting from the best preventive strategy including implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). 


Methods:

 

Consecutive patients in whom an ICD was implanted for primary or secondary prevention of MVA were eligible. All patients had blood fatty acid analysis. The method of Kaplan-Meier was used to estimate the survival curves in each quartile of the main plant (ALA) and marine (EPA and DHA) n-3.


Results:

 

Among the 238 enrolled patients, 100 had a relevant endpoint recorded by the ICD or died from a cardiac cause during a mean follow-up of 30±12 months. No significant difference in MVA was observed between quartiles of ALA (log-rank test p=0.88), EPA (log-rank test p=0.58) and DHA (log-rank test p=0.97). In a multivariate Cox proportional hazard model
including age, sex, ischemic heart disease, diabetes, smoking, hypertension and high cholesterol as covariates, we found no association between MVA and n-3: hazard ratio was 1.12 (95% CI 0.62-2.02) for ALA and 1.44 (95% CI 0.81-2.58) for the sum of main marine n-3.


Conclusions:

 

Plant and marine n-3 do not seem to either increase or decrease the risk of MVA in patients who are not n-3 deficient and benefit from the most effective preventive treatment. Further studies are required to test whether n-3 deficient patients would still benefit from n-3 supplements. Finally, these data raise major questions regarding interactions between
dietary n-3 and certain medications.

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