Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation as an adjunctive therapy in the treatment of chronic kidney disease: a meta-analysis

The aim of this study was to evaluate the benefits and risks of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation in patients with chronic kidney disease. A systematic search of articles in PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and reference lists was performed to find relevant literature. All eligible studies assessed proteinuria, the serum creatinine clearance rate, the estimated glomerular filtration rate, or the occurrence of end-stage renal disease. Standard mean differences with 95% confidence intervals for continuous data were used to estimate the effects of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation on renal function, as reflected by the serum creatinine clearance rate, proteinuria, the estimated glomerular filtration rate, and relative risk. Additionally, a random-effects model was used to estimate the effect of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation on the risk of end-stage renal disease. Nine randomized controlled trials evaluating 444 patients with chronic kidney disease were included in the study. The follow-up duration ranged from 2 to 76.8 months. Compared with no or low-dose omega-3 fatty acid supplementation, any or high-dose omega-3 fatty acid supplementation, respectively, was associated with a lower risk of proteinuria (SMD: -0.31; 95% CI: -0.53 to -0.10; p=0.004) but had little or no effect on the serum creatinine clearance rate (SMD: 0.22; 95% CI: -0.40 to 0.84; p=0.482) or the estimated glomerular filtration rate (SMD: 0.14; 95% CI: -0.13 to 0.42; p=0.296). However, this supplementation was associated with a reduced risk of end-stage renal disease (RR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.24 to 0.99; p=0.047). In sum, omega-3 fatty acid supplementation is associated with a significantly reduced risk of end-stage renal disease and delays the progression of this disease.