Cardiology

Omega-3 Fatty Acids:
An Adjunct to Improving CHD Risk—What
Primary Care Physicians Need to Know

This CME activity has reached its termination date and no longer offers continuing education credit. Please note that expired CME activities may not contain the most up-to-date information available.

Click here to view our current activities in Cardiology.

This activity is co-sponsored by Projects In Knowledge and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids: An Adjunct to Improving CHD Risk—What Primary Care Physicians Need to Know

Order print copies
Download a PDF of the Tx Reporter

also available:

Click Here to View the Previous Tx Reporter.

Dear Colleague,

Addressing cardiovascular disease on a broad front continues to be a central concern for the primary care community. Even as treatment options continue to expand our opportunities to bring increasing benefits to our patients in terms of improved quality of life and decreased mortality, the complexity of our choices also continues to grow. One area that presents greater opportunities for conferring benefit to large numbers of patients, combined with increasing numbers of treatment options, is the management of dyslipidemia, which is increasingly recognized as a complex range of disorders, including not only elevated low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides, but suboptimal levels of high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol. Hypertriglyceridemia, in particular, affecting about one third of adults, has been identified as an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease, but is often not optimally controlled by standard cholesterol-lowering therapies, which target low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol.

Recent evidence has brought renewed attention to the omega-3 fatty acids. In the general population, dietary intake of omega-3s from fish and other seafood has been shown in numerous studies to reduce overall mortality in general and coronary death in particular. Omega-3 supplementation lowers triglycerides as much as fibrates or niacin and is likely to be better tolerated by many persons. This newsletter presents recent data about the benefits of omega-3 supplementation in selected patient populations and offers practical information for the primary care practitioner on how to use this treatment option.

We hope that you will find that the information presented in this newsletter is useful to you for improving the health outcomes of patients in your practice. We thank you for your participation.

Sincerely,

CHAIR
Terry A. Jacobson, MD, FACP, FAHA Professor of Medicine Director, Office of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Emory University School of Medicine Atlanta, Georgia
FACULTY
Vera Bittner, MD, MSPH Professor of Medicine Section Head, Preventive Cardiology Division of Cardiovascular Disease University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham, Alabama
W. Virgil Brown, MD Charles Howard Candler Professor of Medicine Director, Division of Arteriosclerosis and Lipid Metabolism Emory University School of Medicine Atlanta VA Medical Center Atlanta, Georgia

top

TARGET AUDIENCE

This activity is designed for primary care physicians and other healthcare professionals involved in identifying and treating patients with hypertriglyceridemia.

ACTIVITY GOAL

The goal of this activity is to provide an overview of the latest developments in omega-3 fatty acids as adjunctive therapy for lowering hypertriglyceridemia in patients at risk of coronary heart disease.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Identify patients at risk for hypertriglyceridemia and, if present, treat the condition based on a better understanding of risk factors for hypertriglyceridemia.
Assess the safety and efficacy of current first-line and adjunct therapies for hypertriglyceridemia and formulate strategic treatment regimens that will improve patients' prognoses.
Discuss the mechanism of action, clinical efficacy, and safety data of omega-3 fatty acids and integrate this adjunct therapy into appropriate treatment regimens for patients with hypertriglyceridemia.

top

CME INFORMATION—PHYSICIANS

Statement of Accreditation

The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Credit Designation

The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)^TM. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Contract for Mutual Responsibility in CME/CE
Projects In Knowledge has developed the contract to demonstrate our commitment to providing the highest quality professional education to clinicians, and to help clinicians set educational goals to challenge and enhance their learning experience.
For more information on the contract, click here.

Successful Completion/Registration Instructions:

To receive credit for reviewing this activity, click on or type this string into your address bar: http://cme-online.med.upenn.edu/omega-3 to get to the University of Pennsylvania's CME website
To obtain access to the post-test, follow the instructions to register and then log-in to the program
After successfully completing the post-test with a score of 70% or higher and completing the evaluation, you will be able to retrieve, print, or save your certificate

top

DISCLOSURE INFORMATION

It is policy at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine for individuals who are in a position to control the content of an educational activity to disclose to the learners all relevant financial relationships that they have with any commercial interest that provides products or services that may be relevant to the content of this continuing medical education activity. Peer review of all content was conducted.

The staff in the Office of CME at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the peer reviewer, and the staff at Projects In Knowledge have reported no relevant financial relationships with any commercial interests related to the content of this educational activity.

Vera Bittner, MD, MSPH, has received grant/research support from AtheroGenics, Inc, Kos Pharmaceuticals, Inc, NIH, and Pfizer Inc; is a consultant for CV Therapeutics, Inc, Pfizer Inc, and Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Inc; and has served on the advisory board for Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.

W. Virgil Brown, MD, has received grant/research support from Kos Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Merck & Co, Inc, Pfizer Inc, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals America, Inc; and is a consultant for and on the speakers bureau of Abbott Laboratories, Amgen Inc, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, AtheroGenics, Inc, Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Kos Pharmaceuticals, Inc, LipoScience Inc, Merck & Co, Inc, Pfizer Inc, Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Sankyo Pharma Inc, Sanofi-Aventis, Schering-Plough Corporation, Surface Logix, Inc, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals America, Inc.

Terry A. Jacobson, MD, FACP, FAHA, is a consultant for and is on the speakers bureau of Abbott Laboratories, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Merck & Co, Inc, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Pfizer Inc, Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Inc, and Schering-Plough Corporation.

Investigational and/or Off-Label Use of Commercial Products and Devices

The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine requires all faculty to disclose any planned discussion of an investigational and/or off-label use of a pharmaceutical product or device within their presentation. Participants should note that the use of products outside FDA-approved labeling should be considered experimental and are advised to consult current prescribing information for approved indications.

The following are specific discussions in this educational material that are based on preliminary data from recent research about the use of products and dietary supplements which are currently considered unlabeled/unapproved by the FDA: use of omega-3 for secondary prevention of CAD, use of PUFA as determinant for improved prognosis after acute MI, use of omega-3 PUFA for antiatherogenic benefits in type 2 diabetes mellitus, use of fish oil with statins in primary protection of heart disease.

There is no fee for this activity.

Acknowledgement of Commercial Support

This activity is supported by an educational grant from Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

top

1779