Omega-3 Fats Help Heart Health in Dialysis Patients

by | Feb 18, 2013 | 2013, Diabetes, Kidney Health, Omega - 3

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Those in the group with the highest omega-3 blood levels (at least 4.51%) had an 80% reduced risk of death after one year of hemodialysis treatment compared to the group with the lowest omega-3 blood levels ( 3.07% or less).

The National Institutes of Health estimate that 20 million Americans (1 in 10 American adults) have chronic kidney disease which costs an average of $70,000 per patient to treat (1). One of the treatment options is dialysis of which there are two types: hemodialysis (where treatment is done through your bloodstream (2)) and peritoneal dialysis (where treatment is done through your stomach (3)).

While 94% of patients choose hemodialysis, only 35% of patients survive for longer than 5 years (4). The risk of death is highest in the first few months after starting treatment (5) with sudden cardiac death being the single most common cause, accounting for approximately one out of every four deaths (5). Unfortunately, there are no known treatments to help prevent hemodialysis-associated sudden cardiac death. Now a new study (8) suggests that omega-3 fatty acids may benefit heart health in dialysis patients.

In the study, researchers compared omega-3 fatty acid blood levels between two groups: 100 patients who died of sudden cardiac death during the first year of starting hemodialysis and 300 patients who survived. These patients were selected from the Accelerated Mortality on Renal Replacement project, a nationally representative prospective cohort study on patients who initiated chronic hemodialysis at any one of over 1,000 US dialysis centers in North America (9).

The patients were divided into four groups (quartiles) according to their omega-3 fatty acid blood levels. The researchers found “a significant inverse relationship between long-chain omega-3 fatty acids and the risk of sudden cardiac death even after adjusting for relevant comorbid conditions*, biochemical values, and dietary fats.”

Specifically, those in the highest omega-3 blood level group (at least 4.51%) had an 80% reduced risk of death after one year of hemodialysis treatment compared to the lowest group ( 3.07% or less). The next highest blood level group (3.82-4.50%) saw a 78% reduced risk of death after one year, while the third-highest group (3.08-3.81%) had a 63% reduced risk compared to the lowest group (p = 0.001). Just as important, these reduced risks were maintained even during the highest-risk first few months on hemodialysis.

For the researchers, “long-chain omega-3 fatty acids are strongly and independently associated with a lower risk of sudden cardiac death in hemodialysis patients throughout the first year of hemodialysis.”

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY.  You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com

Source: Friedman, Allon N., et al. “Inverse relationship between long-chain n-3 fatty acids and risk of sudden cardiac death in patients starting hemodialysis.” Kidney international 83.6 (2013): 1130-1135.

© 2013 International Society of Nephrology

Posted February 18, 2013.

References:

  1. Data available on National Institutes of Health’s National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse.
  2. “Treatment Methods for Kidney Failure: hemodialysis” posted on the National Institutes of Health’s National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse website.
  3. “Treatment Methods for Kidney Failure: Peritoneal Dialysis” posted on the National Institutes of Health’s National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse website.
  4. U.S. Renal Data System, USRDS 2012 Annual Data Report: Atlas of End-Stage Renal Disease in the United States, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases: Bethesda, MD, 2012.
  5. Chan KE, Maddux FW, Tolkoff-Rubin N et al. Early outcomes among those initiating chronic dialysis in the United States. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2011; 6: 2642–2649.
  6. Shastri S, Tangri N, Tighiouart H et al. Predictors of sudden cardiac death: a competing risk approach in the hemodialysis study. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2012; 7: 123–130.
  7. Passman R, Herzog CA. End-stage renal disease: sudden cardiac death: stratifying risk in dialysis patients. Nat Rev Nephrol 2011; 7: 133–135.
  8. Friedman AN.  Inverse relationship between long-chain n 3 fatty acids and risk of sudden cardiac death in patients starting hemodialysis.  Kidney Int 2013 Feb 6. doi: 10.1038/ki.2013.4.
  9. Wolf M, Shah A, Gutierrez O et al. Vitamin D levels and early mortality among incident hemodialysis patients. Kidney Int 2007; 72:1004–1013.