ArticleRheumatology advances in practice2020
Fish oil supplementation reduces osteoarthritis-specific pain in older adults with overweight/obesity.
Article in Rheumatology advances in practice, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Potential therapeutic benefits of curcumin in depression or anxiety induced by chronic diseases: a systematic review of mechanistic and clinical evidence.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of omega-3 fatty acids on chronic pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids supplementation for patients with osteoarthritis: a meta-analysis.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2023Pooled it
- Efficacy ofNutrients · 2023Trial
- Changes in fish and coffee intake and pain intensity in older adults: longitudinal results from the COPERNICUS study.QJM : monthly journal of the Association of Physicians · 2026Observational
- A self-assembled nano micelle-exosome with high selectivity and penetrability achieves precise intracartilage lipid delivery.Science advances · 2025Article
- Complement factor D (adipsin) mediates pressure-pain hypersensitivity post destabilization of medial meniscus injury.Arthritis research & therapy · 2025Article
- The Bidirectional Role of Obesity and Aging in the Pathogenesis of Osteoarthritis: Molecular Mechanisms, Epigenetic Insights, and Therapeutic Implications.Journal of inflammation research · 2025Review
- Inflammation as a therapeutic target for osteoarthritis: A literature review of clinical trials.Clinical rheumatology · 2024Review
- Omega-3 Supplementation and Its Effects on Osteoarthritis.Nutrients · 2024Review
- Association between omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and osteoarthritis: results from the NHANES 2003-2016 and Mendelian randomization study.Lipids in health and disease · 2024Observational
- The Role of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Osteoarthritis: Insights from a Mendelian Randomization Study.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Targeting the Inflammatory Hallmarks of Obesity-Associated Osteoarthritis: Towards Nutraceutical-Oriented Preventive and Complementary Therapeutic Strategies Based on n-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Role of Turmeric and Curcumin in Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Diseases: Lessons Learned from Clinical Trials.ACS pharmacology & translational science · 2023Review
- Curcumin Formulations for Better Bioavailability: What We Learned from Clinical Trials Thus Far?ACS omega · 2023Review
- Polygenetic Variants Related to Osteoarthritis Risk and Their Interactions with Energy, Protein, Fat, and Alcohol Intake in Adults in a Large Cohort.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesOA is a leading cause of chronic pain and disability. Next to inflammation, vascular pathology has been hypothesized to play a role in its aetiology and progression. Owing to side effects and the low efficacy of pharmacological treatments, dietary supplements are popular as alternative treatments, but evidence of efficacy is limited. We tested whether fish oil and curcumin supplementation can reduce chronic pain and OA burden in older adults.
methodsA 16-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2 × 2 factorial design supplementation trial with fish oil (2000 mg/day docosahexaenoic acid + 400 mg/day eicosapentaenoic acid), curcumin (160 mg/day) or a combination of both was undertaken in sedentary overweight/obese older adults. Secondary outcomes included treatment-induced changes in self-reported chronic pain and OA burden and whether changes were related to changes in small artery elasticity (surrogate marker for microvascular function), CRP (inflammatory marker) and well-being.
resultsThe majority of participants (131 of 152) reported chronic pain, which was predominantly OA specific. Fish oil significantly reduced OA-specific pain (
conclusionOur findings indicate potential for fish oil to alleviate OA pain and burden in overweight/obese older adults. Further investigations should be undertaken in patients with clinically diagnosed OA to evaluate fish oil alone and as an adjunct to conventional pharmacotherapy and to investigate underlying mechanisms.
trial registrationAustralian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register, https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=370788, ACTRN12616000732482p.
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Registered trials
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.