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Heart attack victims should take fish oil pill daily

Daily Mail
 by JENNY HOPE - More by this author »
Last updated at 22:00pm on 22nd May 2007

 

Thousands of heart attack survivors will be prescribed fish oil supplements on the NHS each year to prevent a repeat attack.

New guidelines recommend cardiac patients get one gram of omega-3 fatty acids every day to reduce the risk of dying by up to 45 per cent.

However, the guidelines only suggest pills for patients who have had a heart attack in the previous three months and are not getting enough oily fish in their diet.

An estimated one in five of 270,000 patients surviving a heart attack each year is expected to benefit.

But more than 1.2 million Britons who survived a heart attack before March will not qualify for supplements - which cost around £1 a day.

Experts drawing up guidelines for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said lifestyle changes were as important as drugs in preventing a recurrent heart attack.

Patients will be told to follow a Mediterranean diet, which is typically rich in fruit, vegetables, grains, olive oil and fish.

They should also be given advice on giving up smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, safe drinking levels and exercising for 20 to 30 minutes a day.

Cardiac rehabilitation, including advice on diet and exercise, is also given a new priority.

Professor Gene Feder, who worked on the guidance, said research evidence supported starting fish oils in the first three months after an attack.

While NICE did not suggest other heart attack victims stop taking fish oil supplements, "what we feel confident about is that three-month window", he said.

The estimated cost of prescribing fish oils is £7 million in the first year.

London GP Dr Sarah Jarvis, chairwoman of the International Cod Liver Omega-3 Foundation, said the guidance marks a turning point in preventing recurrent heart attacks.

But she was sceptical about the reason for withholding fish oils on the NHS from many thousands of survivors who might benefit.

She said "A Mediterranean-style diet and fish oil omega-3 should be actively recommended and prescribed for all patients being discharged from hospital following a heart attack.

"It is much healthier and more cost effective for the NHS to recommend fish oil supplements to patients than some drugs that are widely prescribed to patients for many other conditions."

"It's a cost-cutting measure which is short-sighted as preventing heart attacks is very cost-effective."

She added that a major study from Japan published in The Lancet last month confirmed the advantages for people before they have even had a heart attack.

Professor Feder denied that restricting free access to the pills was a cost-cutting measure. He also said patients would be advised not to take beta-carotene (vitamin A) supplements and doctors should not recommend vitamin E, C or folic acid to reduce heart attack risk.

Although the UK death rate from coronary heart disease has been falling since the early 1970s, it still remains one of the highest in Europe, with more than 103,000 deaths a year.

Omacor, which is licensed for post-heart attack treatment, has been shown in clinical trials to cut the risk of sudden death by up to 45 per cent.

Omega 3 fats are important throughout adult life for mental wellbeing but in particular help heart patients, and those with arthritis, by blocking the body's response to inflammation.

They cut blood fats, reduce the chances of a blood clot and block dangerous heart rhythms that might otherwise prove fatal.

Steve Shaffelburg, Policy Manager at the British Heart Foundation said "These NICE guidelines are welcome - but we have been here before.  "We have already seen many Government documents and clinical guidelines which stress the importance of cardiac rehabilitation for all eligible patients, but it still remains a ‘Cinderella service’, with 60 per cent of heart patients who need rehabilitation still not getting access."