Fish Intake and Venous Thromboembolism: A Systematic Literature Review

Diet plays an important role in modulating the risk of arterial and venous thrombosis. Several lines of evidence attest that consumption of fish and its compounds, especially omega-3 fatty acids, may be effective to decrease the cardiovascular risk. Since the pathogenesis of arterial and venous thrombosis share some common aspects, we performed a systematic review of published clinical studies that investigated the association between fish intake and venous thrombosis. An electronic search was carried out in Medline, Scopus, and ISI Web of Science using the key words "fish" OR "seafood" AND "venous thromboembolism" OR "deep vein thrombosis" OR "pulmonary embolism", with no language or date restriction. Overall, 6 studies (5 prospective and 1 case-control) were finally identified. In only 1 small case-control study, a larger intake of total fish was found to be negatively associated with the risk of venous thromboembolism. No association was found in 4 large prospective studies, whereas a positive association was observed in the remaining. No substantial difference was also noticed between intake of fatty or lean fish. Taken together, the current epidemiological evidence does not support the existence of a significant effect of total fish consumption on the risk of venous thromboembolism.