Analysis predicts purified fish oil could prevent cardiovascular events

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) have conducted a statistical analysis that predicts more than 70,000 heart attacks, strokes and other adverse cardiovascular events could be prevented each year in the US through the use of a highly purified fish oil therapy.

Led by Nathan D. Wong, PhD, Professor and Director of the Heart Disease Prevention Program in the Division of Cardiology at the UCI School of Medicine, the abstract of the statistical analysis was accepted by the American College of Cardiology. 

The REDUCE-IT trial showed patients with known cardiovascular disease or diabetes and multiple risk factors who have elevated triglyceride levels and are at increased risk for ischemic events benefitted substantially from icosapent ethyl, a highly purified fish oil therapy, which lowered cardiovascular events, including heart attacks and strokes, by 25 percent. Positive results were not found in other trials, possibly due to mixtures with other omega-3 fatty acids such as DHA, or inadequate dosages, according to Wong.

“Our analysis extends the findings of the REDUCE-IT trial by estimating its potential impact on the US population,” said Wong. “By using inclusion criteria and cardiovascular disease event rates from the REDUCE-IT trial and applying it to data on US adults from NHANES, we were able to estimate the beneficial impact icosapent ethyl could have on preventing initial and total cardiovascular events in eligible US adults with cardiovascular disease or diabetes and multiple risk factors.”

“When you consider that for every 21 patients treated with icosapent ethyl you can spare a cardiovascular event, you begin to see the implications of our results,” said Wong.

Icosapent ethyl is a purified stable eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) which was recently approved by the FDA in conjunction with maximally tolerated statin therapy to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in certain adults with elevated triglyceride levels.