Influence of Maternal Fish Oil Supplementation on the Risk of Asthma or Wheeze in Children: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Overview

Journal Front Pediatr

Specialty Pediatrics

Date 2022 Mar 10

PMID 35265563

Authors

Shaojing Wu

Changhong Li

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Previous studies evaluating the influences of maternal fish oil supplementation on the risk of asthma or wheeze in children showed inconsistent results. We performed a meta-analysis or randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to systematically evaluate the efficacy of maternal fish oil supplementation for asthma or wheeze.

Methods: Relevant RCTs were obtained by search of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane's Library databases. A random-effects model incorporating the potential publication bias was used to pool the results.

Results: Ten RCTs with 3,676 infants were included. Compared to control, maternal supplementation with fish oil was not associated with a reduced risk of asthma or wheeze [odds ratio (OR): 0.91, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.72-1.14, = 0.40] with mild heterogeneity ( = 28%). Subgroup analyses showed that maternal fish oil supplementation significantly reduced the risk of asthma (OR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.35-0.91, = 0.02; = 0%), but not the risk of wheeze (OR: 1.12, 95% CI: 0.90-1.41, = 0.32; = 0%). In addition, maternal fish oil supplementation was associated with reduced risk of asthma or wheeze in high-dose studies (≥1,200 mg/d, OR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.48-0.87, = 0.003; = 0%), but not in low-dose studies (<1,200 mg/d, OR: 1.10, 95% CI: 0.88-1.38, = 0.39; = 0%, for subgroup difference = 0.005). Study characteristics such as the risk of the infants, timing of supplementation, and follow-up duration did not significantly affect the results.

Conclusions: Maternal fish oil supplementation may reduce the risk of clinically diagnosed asthma in children, particularly with high-dose fish oil.

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