EPA/DHA Supplementation Found to Lower Blood Pressure in Dialysis Patients

Kidney dialysis via CAPD (continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis) is often applied for maintaining patients with kidney failure (in end-stage renal disease). Such patients often have various risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) including hypertension which increases their risk of mortality from CVD-related events. The purpose of the present intervention trial was to determine if daily supplementation with EPA/DHA omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil could favourably attenuate various risk factors for CVD in this patient population. For this purpose, 90 patients were selected for the study who had hypertension or were normotensive and on anti-hypertensive treatment. These subjects (average age of 59 years) had been on dialysis for an average of 25 months previously and were randomly assigned (45 subjects per group) to receive omega-3 supplementation providing 900 mg/day of EPA plus DHA (EPA:DHA ratio of 3:2) or ‘placebo’ (control supplement lacking EPA/DHA). At the beginning and following eight weeks of daily supplementation, blood pressures and other risk factors (blood lipids) for CVD were measured.