  
Omega-3 fatty acids may benefit hypertensive heart transplant recipients
Last Updated: 2001-04-18 12:15:12 EDT (Reuters Health)
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) - Omega-3 fatty acids appear to prevent the continuous rise in blood pressure and deterioration of renal function that often occur in hypertensive heart transplant recipients.
In a study reported in the March issue of the European Heart Journal, Dr. Torbjoorn Holm and colleagues, from the University of Oslo, in Norway, randomized 45 hypertensive heart transplant recipients to receive 3.4 g of omega-3 fatty acids or placebo daily for 1 year. The maintenance immunosuppressive regimen of all subjects included cyclosporine, azathioprine, and prednisolone.
The placebo group experienced a significant increase in mean systolic blood pressure and systemic vascular resistance, while the omega-3 fatty acid group demonstrated no change in these parameters. A significant worsening of plasma creatinine and the glomerular filtration rate occurred only in the placebo group, the researchers state.
"The antihypertensive effect was related to an increase in serum eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acid," the investigators note.
"Although our findings may suggest that the hypertension after heart transplantation is not a direct consequence of cyclosporine-induced nephrotoxicity, renal impairment is suggested to play a pathogenic role, and it is tempting to hypothesize that the beneficial effect of omega-3 fatty acids on kidney function may at least partly contribute to its antihypertensive effect," they state.
Dr. Holm's team believes that omega-3 fatty acid treatment may have "multiple clinically important and possibly synergistic effects, not only improving blood pressure control and renal function, but also lowering serum triglycerides."
Eur Heart J 2001;22:428-436.
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