ABSTRACT
Background
Marine fish oil supplements are frequently administered with other lipid medications
for treatment of hypertriglyceridemia. The efficacy of fish oil may be reduced in
the presence of other lipid agents, particularly fibrates that also act as PPARα agonists.
We therefore sought to determine the efficacy of fish-oil supplements when coadministered
with other lipid-modifying agents.
Methods
Patients receiving fish oil supplements were identified from the computer database
of a large governmental HMO. Change in plasma lipoprotein levels after administration
of fish oil was compared between patients receiving fish oil as their only treatment
and those for whom fish oil was added to other drugs.
Results
A total of 166 evaluable records were identified, 66 from patients treated with fish
oil alone and 100 from patients for whom fish oil was added to another agent or other
agents. Fish oil effectively reduced triglyceride levels to an equal extent in the
fish oil only and fish oil added groups (−30% versus –27% respectively; P=0.84).
Conclusion
Fish oil effectively reduces plasma triglyceride levels when administered with concomitant
lipid medications. These findings suggest the presence of additional and even complementary
mechanisms of action of fish oil to lower triglyceride when added to other lipid drugs.
These findings validate the common clinical practice of combining fish oil supplements
with other lipid-lowering medications in patients with hypertriglyceridemia.
KEY INDEXING TERMS
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
November 6,
2006
Received:
August 1,
2006
Footnotes
This work was supported in part by the Medical Research Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Identification
Copyright
© 2007 Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
