Atrial fibrillation sometimes treated by Omega-3 – meta-analysis Sept 2015


The Current Role of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in the Management of Atrial Fibrillation

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2015, 16, 22870-22887; doi:10.3390/ijms160922870



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Georgios A. Christou 1 georgios.christou@yahoo.gr, Konstantinos A. Christou , Panagiotis Korantzopoulos 3,
Evangelos C. Rizos 4, Dimitrios N. Nikas 3 and John A. Goudevenos 3
Laboratory of Physiology, Medical School, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
First Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece; E-Mail: kostaschristou1@gmail.com
First Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece;
E-Mails: p.korantzopoulos@yahoo.gr (P.K.); dimitrios.nikas@gmail.com (D.N.N.); igoudev@cc.uoi.gr (J.A.G.)
Second Medical Department and Outpatient Lipid Clinic, University Hospital of Ioannina,
45110 Ioannina, Greece; E-Mail: vagrizos@gmail.com

Background: The main dietary source of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) is fish, which contains eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). In the present manuscript, we aimed to review the current evidence regarding the clinical role of n-3 PUFA in the prevention of atrial fibrillation (AF) and the possible underlying mechanisms.

Methods: A literature search based on PubMed listings was performed using “Omega-3 fatty acids” and “atrial fibrilation” as key search terms.

Results: n-3 PUFA have been shown to attenuate structural atrial remodeling, prolong atrial effective refractory period through the prevention of reentry and suppress ectopic firing from pulmonary veins. Dietary fish intake has been found to have no effect on the incidence of AF in the majority of studies. Circulating DHA has been consistently reported to be inversely associated with AF risk, whereas EPA has no such effect. The majority of studies investigating the impact of n-3 PUFA supplementation on the incidence of AF following cardiac surgery reported no benefit, though most of them did not use n-3 PUFA pretreatment for adequate duration. Studies using adequate four-week pretreatment with n-3 PUFA before cardioversion of AF showed a reduction of the AF incidence.

Conclusions: Although n-3 PUFA have antiarrhythmogenic properties, their clinical efficacy on the prevention of AF is not consistently supported. Further well-designed studies are needed to overcome the limitations of the existing studies and provide robust conclusions.

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Magnesium is better than Omega-3


VitaminDWiki pages with ATRIAL OR AFIB OR ARRHY in title (15 as of Sept 2022)

This list is automatically updated

Items found: 16
Title Modified
Atrial Fibrillation decreased by Vitamin D or Magnesium - many studies 11 Jul, 2023
Atrial Fibrillation - now 1 in 45 in the UK - May 2023 26 May, 2023
Atrial Fibrillation risk reduced by 0.84 in those raising Vitamin D levels above 30 ng – RCT April 2022 04 Apr, 2022
Atrial fibrillation - Vitamin D improved 1 of 4 measures – March 2015 27 Jun, 2018
Ablation does not reduce atrial fibrillation (CABANA study) but Magnesium does – June 2018 27 Jun, 2018
Atrial Fibrillation strongly associated with some vitamin D binding protein – Dec 2017 09 Dec, 2017
Omega-3 reduced time in hospital and atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery – meta-analysis May 2016 15 Oct, 2017
Atrial fibrillation sometimes treated by Omega-3 – meta-analysis Sept 2015 10 Dec, 2016
Atrial Fibrillation 1.3 times more likely if low vitamin D – meta-analysis Sept 2016 26 Sep, 2016
Atrial fibrillation and low vitamin D: both types of AF are very low – Jan 2014 01 Nov, 2015
Atrial Fibrillation - remineralize your heart - Aug 2015 25 Oct, 2015
Calcium supplementation associated with 3.9X increase risk of atrial fibrillation – June 2015 02 Sep, 2015
Atrial fibrillation reduced with modest vitamin D levels (did not consider Magnesium) – May 2015 05 May, 2015
Higher vitamin D levels associated with health and lower risk of atrial fibrillation – May 2015 02 May, 2015
Active vitamin D decreased atrial fibrillation occurrence by 9X and duration by 77X (rabbits) – March 2014 13 Feb, 2015
Atrial Fibrillation associated with lower levels of vitamin D – July 2012 13 Dec, 2013
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