Fish oil capsules cut death rate in heart failure: Study
Taking a simple once-daily capsule of fish oil improves survival prospects for patients with heart failure, results of a major clinical study showed yesterday.
The positive finding boosts the health-giving reputation of fish oil and is particularly encouraging because heart failure - a chronic condition in which the heart struggles to pump blood effectively - is notoriously difficult to treat.
It is a major plus for Norway's Pronova BioPharma, which makes the medicine used in the test, although doctors said cheap over-the-counter products should work just as well.
Pronova is a world leader in producing pharmaceuticals from fish oil, a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids.
The news also vindicates GlaxoSmithKline's decision to snap up US rights to Pronova's product Lovaza last November, by acquiring Reliant Pharmaceuticals for $1.65 billion.
Omega-3 fatty acids have in the past been linked to a range of health benefits, including reducing the risk of heart attacks, strokes, Alzheimer's disease and depression.
Luigi Tavazzi of the ANMCO Research Center in Florence, Italy, told the European Society of Cardiology annual meeting that patients on Lovaza, followed up for an average 3.9 years, were 9 percent less likely to die than those given a placebo, or dummy capsule.
They were also less likely to be admitted to hospital with cardiovascular problems.
Patients on active treatment received a daily Lovaza capsule containing 1 g of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Of the 7,000 people tracked in the study, 955 patients in the Lovaza group died, compared with 1,014 in the placebo group.
That difference may be modest but Jose Ramon Gonzalez Juanatey, a cardiologist at Santiago University Hospital in Spain, who was not involved in the test, said it was clinically meaningful, since the patients were already receiving the best available treatment, leaving little room for improvement.
Current European and US treatment guidelines focus on the role of omega-3 in preventing heart disease but Juanatey said wider guidance to include treating heart failure could be warranted.
The findings should also be taken as a message to the public to eat more fish to keep their hearts healthy, Juanatey said.
Agencies
(China Daily 09/01/2008 page7)
