We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
To save content items to your account,
please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies.
If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account.
Find out more about saving content to .
To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org
is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings
on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part
of your Kindle email address below.
Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations.
‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi.
‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Recent studies have reported therapeutic benefit from the use of omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) as adjunctive treatment of depression.
Objectives
The goal of this work is to assess the effectiveness and tolerability of dietary supplementation with omega-3 in the treatment of depressed patients.
Method
Prospective, descriptive, observational study in a general psychiatry outpatient clinic. Consecutive inclusion of depressed patients started on dietary supplementation with omega-3 because of partial response to antidepressants and/or intolerance to high doses or combination of antidepressant drugs between January and May 2015. Sociodemographic variables, clinical data and information about tolerability were recorded. Clinical response to treatment over time was assessed at 4–6 months follow up using the 5-item CGI (Clinical Global Impression) scale.
Results
We included 30 depressed patients started on omega-3. None of them reported side effects. Seventy-three percent of patients reported clinical improvement (40% much improvement, 33% some improvement). None of them got worse. We did not find association between clinical response and age, sex, type of depression nor duration of illness.
Conclusion
Despite the limitations of this study, our work support previous positive results on the use of omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) as adjunctive treatment of depression. Giving the safety of its use, clinicians might recommend omega-3 as adjunctive treatment of depression in cases with a partial response to antidepressants.
Disclosure of interest
The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
Recommend this
Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this to your organisation's collection.