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Nutrition, Vitamins & Supplements for Seniors
Fish Fatty Acids May Prevent More Sudden Deaths Than
Defibrillators
Omega-3
fatty acids lowered death rates 6.4% in computer study
By Becky Ham, Science Writer
Health Behavior News Service
 August 30, 2006 - Omega-3 fatty acids may prevent
more sudden deaths than automated external defibrillators in homes and
public places or implanted defibrillators, according to the results of a
new study.
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Researchers compared these preventive strategies in
a computer-simulated community of 100,000 people that resembled the
population of Olmsted County, Minn., in 2000.
By raising omega-3 fatty acids levels among the
cyber-Olmsted citizens, Thomas Kottke, M.D., and colleagues were able to
lower overall death rates in the simulated population by 6.4 percent.
By contrast, automated external defibrillators or
AEDs reduced death rates by 0.8 percent, and implanted defibrillators
(ICDs) reduced deaths by 3.3 percent, found the researchers led by
Kottke, a cardiologist at the Heart Center, Regions Hospital in St.
Paul, Minn.
People can raise their omega-3 levels by eating
fish or taking supplements.
The study, published in the October issue of the
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, showed that raising omega-3
fatty acids would have about eight times the impact of distributing
AEDs and two times the impact of implanting ICDs, Kottke said.
Three-quarters of the reduction in deaths from
increased omega-3 fatty acid levels would come from raising omega-3s
among the healthy portion of the population, according to the
researchers.
Although previous studies have shown that omega-3
fatty acids and defibrillators can prevent sudden cardiac deaths, it is
difficult to compare their effectiveness across a population, the
researchers say.
For instance, people who suffer from a cardiac
condition can be prescribed a series of different treatments and may
follow their doctors orders to different degrees. To keep these types
of variables under control, Kottke and colleagues developed the computer
simulation, which combined realistic data on patient health and
treatments with unrealistic conditions such as 100 percent patient
compliance with doctors prescriptions.
Raising blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids in
individuals after a cardiac event such as a heart attack could save 58
lives a year, according to the simulations predictions. Only seven
lives per year were saved by AEDs, while implantable defibrillators
prevented 30 deaths each year under simulation conditions.
Despite the fact that AEDs do save lives, they are
unlikely to ever have a substantial impact on rates of sudden death,
Kottke said, explaining that a whole chain of events from speedy
application of the device to surviving in the hospital has to occur to
save a person with an AED.
Other studies suggest that proper AED training may
also make a difference in how safely the devices would be used if they
were as widely available as in the simulation. A recent study by Mary
Ann Peberdy, M.D., of the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System
and colleagues found very few harmful incidents related to AED use by
training lay volunteers.
There were no inappropriate shocks and no failures
to shock when indicated, Peberdy said of the study, which included more
than a thousand public facilities and residences in the United States
and Canada. AEDs have an exceptionally high safety profile when used by
trained lay responders, she added.
Kottke and colleagues also note the comparative
costs of omega-3 versus defibrillator treatment. For example, a
population similar to the simulation could raise their omega-3 levels
with daily supplements for $5.8 million a year.
If however, a large proportion of the community
ate fish high in omega-3 content rather than other meat, much of the
cost would be offset, Kottke said.
Equipping every household in a similar population
with an AED would cost $201 million, the researchers estimate. However,
their analysis shows that equipping first responders such as paramedics
and firefighters with AEDs for a comparable population would be
relatively inexpensive, costing only $195,000, Kottke said.
The study was supported by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and the Association for Prevention Teaching and
Research.
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