AUTHOR=Wu Shaojing , Li Changhong 

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

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2022.817110

DOI=10.3389/fped.2022.817110

ISSN=2296-2360

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>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.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>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.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>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, <italic>P</italic> = 0.40] with mild heterogeneity (<italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 28%). Subgroup analyses showed that maternal fish oil supplementation significantly reduced the risk of asthma (OR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.35–0.91, <italic>P</italic> = 0.02; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0%), but not the risk of wheeze (OR: 1.12, 95% CI: 0.90–1.41, <italic>P</italic> = 0.32; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 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, <italic>P</italic> = 0.003; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0%), but not in low-dose studies (&lt;1,200 mg/d, OR: 1.10, 95% CI: 0.88–1.38, <italic>P</italic> = 0.39; <italic>I</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0%, <italic>P</italic> 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.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>Maternal fish oil supplementation may reduce the risk of clinically diagnosed asthma in children, particularly with high-dose fish oil.</p></sec>