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Table 4 Double blind placebo-controlled trials of omega-3 fatty acids upon in mood disorders.

From: Omega-3 fatty acids as treatments for mental illness: which disorder and which fatty acid?

Ref

Jadad score

Disorder

Meds

Age

Gen

Omega-3 fatty acid

Prep type

Duration

N

Outcome measure

Average baseline score

Δ

Statistical significant difference

66

5

MDD

100%

50

81%

1 g/day EPA

Ethyl ester

12 weeks

34

HDRS

20

-3.8

Yes

      

2 g/day EPA

Ethyl ester

12 weeks

35

HDRS

20

+0.3

No

      

4 g/day EPA

Ethyl ester

12 weeks

34

HDRS

19

-0.3

No

68

3

MDD

100%

53

85%

2 g/day EPA

Ethyl ester

4 weeks

20

HDRS

22

-10.8

Yes

69

4

MDD

100%

38

80%

2.2 g/day EPA

1.1 g/day DHA

Crude mixture

8 weeks

22

HDRS

22

-7.2

Yes

71

4

CD

0%

10

25%

0.4 g/day EPA1

0.2 g/day DHA

Crude mixture

16 weeks

20

CDRS

69

-25

Yes

74

2

MDD

0%

47

80%

2 g/day DHA

Crude mixture

6 weeks

35

HDRS

26

-2.3

No

75

3

MDD

79%

39

79%

0.6 g/day EPA

2.4 g/day DHA

Crude mixture

12 weeks

77

HDRS

12

+0.6

No

77

3

BD

100%

43

66%

6.2 g/day EPA

3.4 g/day DHA

Crude mixture

4 months

30

YMRS

7

+1.3

No

          

HDRS

11

-7.7

Yes

80

5

BD

100%

47

76%

1 g/day EPA

Ethyl ester

12 weeks

50

YMRS

6

-3.62

No

          

HDRS

15

-3.6

No

      

2 g/day EPA

Ethyl ester

12 weeks

51

YMRS

5

-12

No

          

HDRS

15

-3

No

      

1 and 2 g/day groups combined

Ethyl ester

12 weeks

51

YMRS

6

-2.32

No

          

HDRS

15

-3.3

Yes

81

5

BD

100%

45

85%

6 g/day EPA

Ethyl ester

16 weeks

116

IDS

NS

-0.4

No

          

YMRS

NS

+0.6

No

86

5

PPD

0%

31

100%

0.2 g/day DHA

Crude mixture

4 months

89

BDI

7

+0.4

No

  1. MDD, CD, PPD and BD are major depressive disorder, childhood depression, post partum depression and bipolar disorder respectively. Δ refers to the difference between the change from baseline values for placebo and treatment groups (change from baseline symptom scores for the omega-3 fatty acid group minus change from baseline scores for the placebo group). Since for all scales zero is better, a negative value indicates a better than placebo response. Trial quality was assessed using Jadad design quality scores which can range from 0 to 5 with 5 being best. Outcome measures are HDRS: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, YMRS: Young Mania Rating Scale, CDRS – Children's Depression Rating Scale, IDS – Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology. The average baseline score is the average of the omega-3 and placebo group scores at the start of the trial. Age refers to the mean age in years of the active and placebo groups. Gen (gender) refers to the % of female participants in the trial. Notes: 1 Some children received a different capsule size resulting in a dose of 0.38 g EPA/day and 0.18 g DHA/day, 2 Although the omega-3 fatty acid group performed better than placebo on the YMRS it should be noted that the mania symptoms worsened in both omega-3 PUFA and placebo groups during the trial.