Preliminary Study of Fish Oil and Dementia

Taipei City Psychiatric Center, Taiwan

Status: Completed

Conditions: Alzheimer's Disease; Mild Cognitive Impairment

Treatments: Dietary Supplement: omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids ( EPA+DHA)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT00628017

DOH-92-TD-1095

Details and patient eligibility

About

This preliminary study is aimed to investigate whether it is feasible to conduct a study to use fish oil compared to the placebo(olive oil) in people with cognitive impairment. We will also explore whether fish oil has better efficacy in some clinical aspects in people with cognitive impairment during 24 weeks intervention. The major clinical outcome will be:

1. general clinical impression
2. cognitive function

Full description

Despite some positive findings from observational and animal studies, the effects of n-3 PUFA administration on cognitive impairment in humans have received little evaluation to date. Although some clinical trials of fish oil have been reported, the results are inconsistent. Given these inconsistent findings, we carried out a preliminary study to investigate the effect of fish oil monotherapy on cognitive function and general clinical condition in patients with cognitive impairment.

Enrollment: 46 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 55 to 90 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• fulfilled the diagnosis of AD according to the American Psychiatric Association, DSM-IV criteria, with mild or moderate severity( defined by an Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score between 10 and 26, and a Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) score of 1 or 2.)
• or amnesic MCI( defined as (1). Subjective memory impairment by the patient and /or an informant, (2) objective memory impairment falling at least 1.5 standard deviations or more below age- and education-specific norms on the Logical Memory delayed-recall score from the Wechsler Memory Scale III (3) relatively normal performance in other cognitive domains, (4) no impairment in activities of daily living, and (5) failure to meet DSM-IV criteria for dementia.)

Exclusion criteria

• inadequate motor or sensory capacity to comply with testing
• any ischemic lesion on brain CT reported by the radiologist or a modified Hachinski Ischemic Scale score >4
• a 17-item Hamilton Depression Scale (HDRS)score > 13
• abnormal levels of folic acid, vitamin B12, or thyroid function
• severe comorbidity, including another neurodegenerative diseases, another chronic debilitating neurological illness (e.g. cerebral palsy), brain trauma, tumors, severe pulmonary, renal, liver disease, cardiac disease, or autoimmune disease, or conditions expected to cause death within one year.
• Participants with a diagnosis of alcoholism, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder were excluded.
• Participants receiving cholinesterase agents during the screen or taking NSAID on a long-term basis

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Quadruple Blind

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46 participants in 2 patient groups, including a placebo group

1

Experimental group

Description:

omega-3 PUFAs(180mg eicosapentaenoic acid\[EPA\] + 120mg docosahexaenoic acid\[DHA\]/capsule), 3 capsules twice daily, total daily omega-3 fatty acid dosage of 1080 mg of EPA and 720 mg of DHA

Treatment:

Dietary Supplement: omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids ( EPA+DHA)

2

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

three identical placebo capsules twice daily which contained olive oil esters.

Treatment:

Dietary Supplement: omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids ( EPA+DHA)