Published 2 February 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b393
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b393

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Fish oil and arrhythmias

Pro-arrhythmic effects of fish oils

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In their systematic review of the effect of fish oils on arrhythmia and mortality, León and colleagues did not mention the potential for fish oils to be pro-arrhythmic in some subgroups of patients with heart disease.1 In animal experiments and cellular electrophysiological studies fish oils have a diverse action on several cardiac ion channels not dissimilar to some broad spectrum anti-arrhythmic drugs currently used in clinical practice.2 Some of these effects such as sodium channel blockade and shortening of action potential duration could enhance the risk of arrhythmias due to a re-entrant mechanism.

Raitt et al showed that fish oils could increase the incidence of ventricular tachycardia in a subset of patients with implantable cardiovertor defibrillators whose qualifying arrhythmia was ventricular tachycardia.3 Similarly, fish oil supplementation increased the risk of cardiac death in patients with angina.4 These contradictory effects may be related to different mechanisms of the prevailing arrhythmia in . . . [Full text of this article]

Palaniappan Saravanan, specialist registrar and research fellow1, Neil C Davidson, electrophysiologist1

1 University Hospital of South Manchester, Manchester M23 9LT

Palaniappan.Saravanan@manchester.ac.uk


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Relevant Article

Effect of fish oil on arrhythmias and mortality: systematic review
Hernando León, Marcelo C Shibata, Soori Sivakumaran, Marlene Dorgan, Trish Chatterley, and Ross T Tsuyuki
BMJ 2008 337: a2931. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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