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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Ibnosina Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences 2011; 03(01): 21-28
DOI: 10.4103/1947-489X.210846
Review

Fish oil and prevention of atrial fibrillation: An appraisal of the evidence

Authors

  • Mahmoud Houmsse

    1   Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

  • Ayman Bazerbashi

    2   School of Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

  • Kamal Haykal

    2   School of Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

  • Marwan Mohammad

    3   Department of Internal Medicine, Mount Carmel Health System, Columbus, Ohio, USA
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Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia. In the absence of optimal rhythm control therapy, due to lack of satisfaction of currently available membrane-acting antiarrhythmics and limited availability of ablative therapy, upstream therapies to prevent atrial fibrillation are emerging as a new pharmacologic strategy. Long chain n-3 (omega-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) from fish have been suggested to account for these benefits. Multiple observational, clinical, and experimental studies have shown that regular fish consumption has a favorable effect on preventing AF. Experimental studies have shown a potential antiarrhythmic, antifibrotic and antiinflammatory effect of PUFAs on atrial tissues. This effect on the atrial substrate will lower atrial tissue vulnerability for development of atrial fibrillation. Recent prospective studies regarding the preventive benefit of PUFAs on post open-heart surgery AF showed mixed results. The purpose of this treatise is to review available studies of PUFA effects on AF and outline benefits of the PUFAs as an upstream therapy to prevent AF.

Key-words:

atrial fibrillation - fish oil - antiarrhythmic - n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids


Publication History

Received: 22 November 2010

Accepted: 20 December 2010

Article published online:
23 May 2022

© 2011. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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