Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31383846›Full record

SynthesisTranslational psychiatry2019

Efficacy of omega-3 PUFAs in depression: A meta-analysis.

Yuhua Liao, Bo Xie, Huimin Zhang, Qian He, Lan Guo, Mehala Subramanieapillai, Beifang Fan, Ciyong Lu, Roger S McIntyre

Erratum issuedOpen access · goldAbstract readMeta-AnalysisReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Translational psychiatry, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 197 papers, 22 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
197citing papers in PubMed, 22 pooled it
22.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

197 citing papers in PubMed, 22 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 398 citations in OpenAlex.

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  16. Omega-3 fatty acids for depression in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021
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137 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Yuhua Liao *Department of Psychiatry, Shenzhen Nanshan Center for Chronic Disease Control, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China.
Bo Xie *Department of Psychiatry, Shenzhen Nanshan Center for Chronic Disease Control, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China.
Huimin ZhangDepartment of Psychiatry, Shenzhen Nanshan Center for Chronic Disease Control, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China.
Qian HeDepartment of Psychiatry, Shenzhen Nanshan Center for Chronic Disease Control, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China.
Lan GuoDepartment of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
Mehala SubramanieapillaiMood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit, University Health Network; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto; Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto; Department of Pharmacology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Beifang FanDepartment of Psychiatry, Shenzhen Nanshan Center for Chronic Disease Control, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China. fanbf@foxmail.com.
Ciyong LuDepartment of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. luciyong@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
Roger S McIntyreMood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit, University Health Network; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto; Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto; Department of Pharmacology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Shenzhen Nanshan Center for Chronic Disease Control · CNSun Yat-sen University · CNUniversity Health Network · CAUniversity of Toronto · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We conducted this meta-analysis of double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trials to estimate the efficacy of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), especially docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), in the improvement of depression. We applied a systematic bibliographic search in PubMed and EMBASE for articles published prior to 20 December 2017. This meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 and R 3.4.3, and means and standard deviations were calculated in fixed- or random-effects models based on the results of the Q-test. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted to evaluate the stability of the results, and publication bias was evaluated by a funnel plot and Egger's linear regression analysis. Our search resulted in 180 articles; we analyzed 26 studies, which included 2160 participants. The meta-analysis showed an overall beneficial effect of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on depression symptoms (SMD = -0.28, P = 0.004). Compared with placebo, EPA-pure (=100% EPA) and EPA-major formulations (≥60% EPA) demonstrated clinical benefits with an EPA dosage ≤1 g/d (SMD = -0.50, P = 0.003, and SMD = -1.03, P = 0.03, respectively), whereas DHA-pure and DHA-major formulations did not exhibit such benefits.Current evidence supports the finding that omega-3 PUFAs with EPA ≥ 60% at a dosage of ≤1 g/d would have beneficial effects on depression. Further studies are warranted to examine supplementation with omega-3 PUFAs for specific subgroups of subjects with inflammation, severity of depression, and the dose response for both EPA and DHA supplementation.

Indexed as

Depressive DisorderDouble-Blind MethodFatty Acids, Omega-3HumansRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicTreatment OutcomeFatty Acids, Omega-3

Identifiers

PMID31383846
PMCPMC6683166
OpenAlexW2965334743

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.