ABSTRACT
Objective: the present study was conducted to evaluate the impact of oral omega-3 supplementation on asthmatic children attending Alexandria University Children's Hospital [AUCH]
Subjects: the present study was carried out on 60 children with mild to moderate persistent asthma attending the Asthma Clinic at AUCH
Methods: a randomized controlled trial for 4 months during which subjects were divided equally into 2 groups: - Group [A]: received a daily dose of 1000 mg triglyceridic oil containing about 30% EPA/DHA in addition to their ordinary asthma treatment for 4 months. - Group [B]: received their ordinary asthma treatment only. During the 4 months study, children and their primary caregivers [usually a parent] attended the clinic on another 2 occasions [after 2 and 4 months]. At each visit the child completed the Asthma Control Questionnaire [ACQ] followed by spirometry to evaluate the effectiveness of the developed intervention
Results: the mean age of studied children was 8.19+/- 2.22 years and male children constituted 78.3% of the study sample. 60% of cases were living in urban areas. The positive family history was positive in 45% of the studied cases. There was a significant improvement of ACQ score of omega-3group at 2 and4 months after the study when compared to the start of the study, while there is no significant improvement in ACQ score of control group
Conclusion: the current study shows that supplementation of asthmatic children with omega3 significantly improved ACQ score