Fish consumption and the risk of developing acute coronary syndromes: the CARDIO2000 study

The aim of this work was to investigate the association between fish consumption and the development of non-fatal acute coronary syndromes (ACS), in a Mediterranean population.

During 2000-2001, we randomly and stratified selected, from all Greek regions, 848 hospitalised patients (695 males, 58+/-10 years old and 153 females, 65+/-9 years old) who had a first event of ACS and 1078 paired, by region-sex-age, controls without any clinical symptoms or signs of coronary heart disease.

On multivariate logistic regression analysis and, after controlling for several potential confounders, we found that fish consumption less than 150 g/week was associated with 38% lower odds of developing ACS as compared to no consumption (odds ratio=0.62, P-value<0.05). In contrast, moderate (150-300 g/week) and high (>300 g/week) fish consumption was not associated with the developing of the disease (odds ratios=1.10 and 1.01, respectively, P-value>0.1). The benefits from low fish consumption were also significant even amongst current smokers and diabetics.

Moderate fish consumption was independently associated with a significant reduction in the odds of developing ACS. The strength and consistency of this finding has implications for public health and should be explored further.