Long-Chain Omega -3 Fatty Acids for Indicated Prevention of Psychotic Disorders

IN the Archives of General Psychiatry, February 2010:

"Long-Chain -3 Fatty Acids for Indicated Prevention of Psychotic Disorders
A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial

G. Paul Amminger, MD; Miriam R. Schäfer, MD; Konstantinos Papageorgiou, MD; Claudia M. Klier, MD; Sue M. Cotton, PhD; Susan M. Harrigan, MSc; Andrew Mackinnon, PhD; Patrick D. McGorry, MD, PhD; Gregor E. Berger, MD


Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2010;67(2):146-154.

Context

The use of antipsychotic medication for the prevention of psychotic disorders is controversial.

Long-chain -3 (omega-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) may be beneficial in a range of psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia. Given that -3 PUFAs are generally beneficial to health and without clinically relevant adverse effects, their preventive use in psychosis merits investigation.

Objective

To determine whether -3 PUFAs reduce the rate of progression to first-episode psychotic disorder in adolescents and young adults aged 13 to 25 years with subthreshold psychosis.

Design

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted between 2004 and 2007.

Setting

Psychosis detection unit of a large public hospital in Vienna, Austria.

Participants

Eighty-one individuals at ultra-high risk of psychotic disorder.

Interventions

A 12-week intervention period of 1.2-g/d -3 PUFA or placebo was followed by a 40-week monitoring period; the total study period was 12 months.

Main Outcome Measures

The primary outcome measure was transition to psychotic disorder. Secondary outcomes included symptomatic and functional changes. The ratio of -6 to -3 fatty acids in erythrocytes was used to index pretreatment vs posttreatment fatty acid composition.

Results

Seventy-six of 81 participants (93.8%) completed the intervention. By study's end (12 months), 2 of 41 individuals (4.9%) in the -3 group and 11 of 40 (27.5%) in the placebo group had transitioned to psychotic disorder (P = .007). The difference between the groups in the cumulative risk of progression to full-threshold psychosis was 22.6% (95% confidence interval, 4.8-40.4). -3 Polyunsaturated fatty acids also significantly reduced positive symptoms (P = .01), negative symptoms (P = .02), and general symptoms (P = .01) and improved functioning (P = .002) compared with placebo. The incidence of adverse effects did not differ between the treatment groups.

Conclusions

Long-chain -3 PUFAs reduce the risk of progression to psychotic disorder and may offer a safe and efficacious strategy for indicated prevention in young people with subthreshold psychotic states."

Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00396643

US National Institutes of Health study

Indicated Prevention With Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Adolescents With 'At-Risk-Mental-State' for Psychosis

Sponsors and collaborators

The Stanley Medical Research Institute

E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.
Executive Director

---

E.Fuller Torrey is well-known as a pro-forced drugging Schizophrenia thought leader, and the TAC site heavily promotes negative news stories depicting "violent Schizophrenics off meds" stories. Torrey is highly controversial, in the mental health world.

One of my previous articles

Saturday, March 21, 2009-Stanley Medical Research Institute, Joseph Biederman, Fuller Torrey and TAC

Interesting reading the Joseph Biederman deposition documents,which in part discuss the Stanley Foundation.

Biederman Deposition pdf format documents, Feb. 2009.

Superior Court of New Jersey

In re: Risperdal/Seroquel/Zyprexa LitigationVideo Deposition of Joseph Biederman, MD Friday February 27, 2009 Boston, MA.page 342

Q. What is the Stanley Medical Research Institute?

A.(Biederman) The Stanley family has a foundation that is called now the Stanley Medical Institute that funded us for a few years to conduct the psychopharmacological research on pediatric bipolar illness.