Effects of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on depressive symptoms,anxiety and emotional state in patients with acute myocardial infarction

Background: our aim was to assess whether an early introduced n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 pufa) supplementation affects depression symptoms,anxiety and emotional state in patients with acute myocardial infarction (ami) and no history of mental disorders. methods: fifty two patients with ami were enrolled into the study and randomized to the study group (group p; n = 26; standard therapy + n-3 pufa1 g daily) or the control group (group c; n = 26; standard therapy). the following psychological tests were used at the baseline (3rd day of ami) and after one month (30 ± 1 days): beck depression inventory (bdi),state-trait anxiety inventory in a specific situation (stai-s) and as a general trait (stai-t),emotional state questionnaire (esq). results: the baseline characteristics,pharmacotherapy and bdi,stai-s/t and esq were similar between both groups. the mean test scores assessed for all patients (group p and c) during the one-month observation were significantly lower for bdi (p = 0.04),stai-t (p = 0.03),stai-s (p = 0.01) and harm/loss emotions (p = 0.005). after adjusting for age,sex,body mass index,coronary artery disease severity,ejection fraction,serum troponin level and the baseline tests results,n-3 pufaintervention revealed additional significant decrease in bdi (p = 0.046),stai-s (p = 0.03) and harm/loss emotions (p = 0.04). conclusions: our study provides novel and preliminary observations - n-3 pufasupplementation reveals additional decreasing effects on depressive and anxiety symptoms in early post-mi patients. copyright © 2013 by institute of pharmacology polish academy of sciences.