Background: In burn patients, the profound effect of nutritional support on improved wound healing and a reduced rate of hospitalization and mortality has been documented. Fish oil as a primary source of omega-3 fatty acids in nutritional support may attenuate the inflammatory response and enhance immune function; however, unclear effects on the improvement of clinical outcomes in burn patients remain.
Methods: The systematic literature review was conducted by searching the electronic databases: Cochrane Library, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Scopus to assess the randomized controlled trials of nutritional support with omega-3 fatty acids compared to control diets in patients that presented with burns from any causes.
Results: Seven trials were included in this meta-analysis. We found no significant differences in length of stay (LOS) (p = 0.59), mortality (p = 0.86), ventilation days (p = 0.16), gastrointestinal complications-e.g., constipation and diarrhea (p = 0.73)-or infectious complications-e.g., pneumonia and sepsis (p = 0.22)-between the omega-3-fatty-acid-receiving group and the control/other diets group.
Conclusions: We did not find a benefit of omega-3 support in reducing the various complications, mortality and LOS in burn patients. Further studies are necessary to find the effect of nutritional support with omega-3 fatty acids over low-fat diets in this population.
Keywords: burn; fish oil; meta-analysis; nutrition; omega-3 fatty acid.