Fish consumption, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids intake and risk of stroke: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis

Although fish consumption or omega-3 intake is associated with cardio- cerebrovascular disease including stroke, their correlation is still controversial. Therefore, this meta-analysis is to identify the relationship between the risk of stroke and fish consumption or omega-3 intake.

We searched the PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases as of May 2019. Multivariateadjusted risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for stroke in different level intake of fish or Longchain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC ω3-PUFAs) were pooled using a random-effects meta-analysis. A dose-response analysis was conducted with the 2-stage generalized least-squares trend program.

Our meta-analysis identified a total of 17 prospective cohort studies including 14986 strokes events in 672711 individuals. Meta-analysis revealed that the higher fish consumption was significantly associated with lower risk of stroke (RR=0.871, 95% CI: 0.779-0.975, p=0.016), especially with ischemic stroke (RR=0.808, 95% CI: 0.696- 0.937, p=0.005). Meantime, the combined RR of total stroke was 0.859 (95% CI: 0.769-0.959, p=0.007) for the highest versus lowest intake of LC ω3-PUFAs, and stratification analysis showed that higher LC ω3-PUFAs intake was associated with reduced stroke risk in women (RR=0.793, 95% CI: 0.706-0.891, p=0.000) but not in men. In addition, the dose-response analysis showed fish consumption with 1000g per month and LC ω3-PUFAs intake with 0.5g per month was associated with 17.3% (RR=0.927, 95% CI: 0.83-0.98) and 14% (RR=0.86, 95% CI: 0.78-0.95) lower risk of stroke, respectively.

Both fish consumption and LC ω3-PUFAs intake were negatively associated with the risk of stroke, especially in women, which suggest that increased intake of fishery products and LC ω3-PUFAs may benefit primary prevention of stroke.