Indicated Prevention With Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Adolescents With 'At-Risk-Mental-State' for Psychosis

Summary

Early intervention in psychosis might be associated with better outcomes. However, intervention in the pre-psychotic phase has been questioned as, using current criteria, only 20-50% of individuals classified as prodromal develop a psychotic disorder within a 1-2 years period. Treatment agents investigated in the pre-psychotic phase of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders should, therefore, not have major side effects. This proposal investigates omega-3 fatty acids (1.2 gramm per day eicosapentaenoic acid/docosahexaenoic acid;EPA/DHA) as a beneficial and possible preventive therapeutic agent in young people at ultra high-risk for developing a psychotic disorder.

Timeline

Start

2004-05

Primary completion

2007-06

Completion

2007-06

Publications

• Background Berger GE, Proffitt TM, McConchie M, et al. Ethyl-Eicosapentaenoic acid in first episode psychosis: A randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 2007; in press Berger GE, Wood SJ, Wellard RM, et al. In vivo brain effects of ethyl-eicosapentaenoic acid in early psychosis. A 1H-MRS study. Neuropsychopharmacology 2007;in press.
• Smesny S, Milleit B, Schaefer MR, Hesse J, Schlogelhofer M, Langbein K, Hipler UC, Berger M, Cotter DR, Sauer H, McGorry PD, Amminger GP. Effects of omega-3 PUFA on immune markers in adolescent individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis - Results of the randomized controlled Vienna omega-3 study. Schizophr Res. 2017 Oct;188:110-117. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2017.01.026. Epub 2017 Jan 23.
• Focking M, Dicker P, Lopez LM, Cannon M, Schafer MR, McGorry PD, Smesny S, Cotter DR, Amminger GP. Differential expression of the inflammation marker IL12p40 in the at-risk mental state for psychosis: a predictor of transition to psychotic disorder? BMC Psychiatry. 2016 Sep 20;16(1):326. doi: 10.1186/s12888-016-1039-7.
• Amminger GP, Chanen AM, Ohmann S, Klier CM, Mossaheb N, Bechdolf A, Nelson B, Thompson A, McGorry PD, Yung AR, Schafer MR. Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation in adolescents with borderline personality disorder and ultra-high risk criteria for psychosis: a post hoc subgroup analysis of a double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Can J Psychiatry. 2013 Jul;58(7):402-8. doi: 10.1177/070674371305800705.
• Amminger GP, Schafer MR, Papageorgiou K, Klier CM, Cotton SM, Harrigan SM, Mackinnon A, McGorry PD, Berger GE. Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids for indicated prevention of psychotic disorders: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2010 Feb;67(2):146-54. doi: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.192.

Drugs

Indications