Role of omega 3 fatty acids as adjuvant treatment in schizophrenia: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND-: Schizophrenia is a chronic psychiatric illness with symptoms in positive,negative and cognitive domains.Studies have shown the correlation between essential fatty acids in occurrence plus course of schizophrenia and their low levels in patients, which are necessary for normal neuronal membrane metabolism (‘membrane phospholipid hypothesis’ of schizophrenia.) AIM-: To assess the efficacy of omega 3 fatty acid supplementation over severity of symptoms and overall functional status of patients. METHOD-: A randomized control trial was carried out in the inpatient department of a psychiatric tertiary care centre. The study consisted of 40 participants (36 males and 4 females).All participants between the ages of 18 – 55 years, who met diagnostic criteria of schizophrenia (ICD 10) and gave written informed consent,were part of the study. Persons who had a co-morbid psychiatric illness, medical illness,history of allergy to fish products, substance abuse (except nicotine) were excluded. The participants were randomly allocated into two groups (experimental group which received intervention and control group) and followed up for 3 months. Symptom severity was measured using the PANSS scale and functional status by using Global Assessment of Functioning scale(baseline and after 3 months) RESULTS-: There was significant difference in the final PANSS score between experimental and control group (t= -5.4, p value= 0.002).Differences between mean values of final GAF scores were present but not statistically significant. CONCLUSION-: Omega 3 fatty acids can be considered an adjuvant treatment in schizophrenia.