© 2005 The European Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
n-3 Fatty acids and ventricular arrhythmias in patients with ischaemic heart disease and implantable cardioverter defibrillators
aDepartment of Nephrology, Aalborg Hospital, Århus University Hospital 9100 Aalborg, Denmark; bDepartment of Cardiology, Aalborg Hospital, Århus University Hospital 9100 Aalborg, Denmark; cCenter for Cardiovascular Research, Aalborg Hospital Århus University Hospital, 9100 Aalborg, Denmark; dDepartment of Cardiology, Skejby Hospital, Århus University Hospital 8200 Århus, Denmark; eCenter for Sensory–Motor Interaction, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University 9220 Aalborg E, Denmark
AIM: To investigate the relationship between serum content of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and the incidence of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).
METHODS: We included 98 patients with ischaemic heart disease and an ICD. The numbers of ventricular fibrillation (VF) and ventricular tachycardia (VT) events were assessed during a 12-month period and related to the concentration of n-3 PUFA in serum phospholipids.
RESULTS: Patients with more than one arrhythmic event had significantly lower n-3 PUFA levels compared with patients without arrhythmias (mean 7.1% vs 9.2%, P < 0.01). Dividing the patients into quintiles according to their n-3 PUFA level those with the lowest content of n-3 PUFA had more ventricular arrhythmias than patients with the highest concentration of n-3 PUFA (mean 1.3 event vs 0.2 event, P < 0.05).
CONCLUSION: Patients with a low content of n-3 PUFA in serum had a higher incidence of ventricular arrhythmias compared with patients with high serum levels of n-3 PUFA. The data suggest that the protection offered by n-3 PUFA against sudden cardiac death observed in previous studies is mediated by a direct antiarrhythmic effect of n-3 PUFA.
Key Words: fatty acids, tachyarrhythmias, cardiovascular disease, nutrition
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +45 99322235; fax: +45 99322234. E-mail address: jhc{at}dadlnet.dk (J.H. Christensen).
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