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Randomized trial · measured the question itself

Trial in 8,179 adults on statins with high blood fats: EPA lowered heart events

Bhatt and colleagues · The New England journal of medicine · 2019

Original title: Cardiovascular Risk Reduction with Icosapent Ethyl for Hypertriglyceridemia.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

Heart events: 17.2% vs 22.0% (hazard ratio, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.68 to 0.83). Heart death: 4.3% vs 5.2%. Hospital stays for atrial fibrillation: 3.1% vs 2.1% (P=0.004). Serious bleeding: 2.7% vs 2.1% (P=0.06).

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
8,179 people · adults on statins with high triglycerides and heart disease, or diabetes with other risk factors
What was tested
2 g icosapent ethyl (purified EPA) twice a day (4 g/day) versus placebo, median 4.9 years
What it measured
The question itself: heart attacks, strokes and heart deaths
Daily amount
4 g a day
How long
255 weeks
Trial registration
NCT01492361
Who has a stake
Company stake
Funded by Amarin Pharma, which makes icosapent ethyl.
Journal
The New England journal of medicine, 2019
Source
PubMed record 30415628. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • ✓Compared with a placebo, a dummy treatment.
  • ✓Large: 8,179 people.
  • ✓Long: about 4.9 years.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: heart attacks, strokes and heart deaths.
  • –Company stake: Funded by Amarin Pharma, which makes icosapent ethyl.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: heart attacks, strokes and heart deaths

    11

    7 benefit, 4 no difference

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    3

    1 benefit, 2 no difference

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  4. Population studies

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does fish oil prevent heart disease?”

Little or no effect in most trials.

Confidence: moderate. Based on 21 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 10 papers on the same step: 6 benefit, 4 no difference. This one found benefit. It agrees with most of them.

Other papers on the same step

See all 21 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads agreed on every checked field. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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