Effectiveness of Fish Oil in Treating Osteoarthritis: A Nursing Report

This nursing assignment investigates the effectiveness of fish oil in treating osteoarthritis, focusing on a 65-year-old woman, Peggy, experiencing knee pain. The report uses a PICO question to guide a search strategy employing keywords such as 'osteoarthritis,' 'fish oil,' and 'joint pain.' The search utilizes MEDLINE and CINAHL databases, yielding relevant articles on fish oil's efficacy and safety. The assignment reviews two studies: one assessing different dosages of fish oil and another comparing low and high doses, both indicating potential benefits for pain reduction and improved knee movement in osteoarthritis patients. The conclusion emphasizes the evidence-based practice, suggesting that fish oil may be a safe and effective treatment option for Peggy and others suffering from osteoarthritis, although further research is needed to confirm this.

Running head: NURSING
Enquiry in health care
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1NURSING
Introduction
This assignment is a search strategy done to prove that the fish oil can be used as a treatment of
osteoarthritis. Fish oil is proved to be a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. It generally blocks
the inflammatory cytokines and prostaglandins. It is also used to prevent the rise of the
triglyceride level in blood and helps in protecting the patient against the heart diseases. It also
helps to reduce the blood pressure (Felson & Bischoff-Ferrari, 2015). In this paper there is a brief
description about a woman named Peggy. She is 65 year old and is suffering from degenerative
osteoarthritis in the knees. During a social gathering one of her friend told her that she can use
fish oil for getting relief from pain. Due to acute pain she is suffering from agony ready to do use
any type of medication but she wants a proof which supports the safety and effectiveness of
using of fish oil.
Body
PICO Question: Does fish oil is effective for the treatment of the degenerative osteoarthritis
in a 65 year older women?
Keywords search: arthritis; osteoarthritis; joint pain; rheumatoid arthritis; marine oil; fish
oil; rheumatology; complementary medicine
Keywords/search terms Alternative words
P osteoarthritis Joint pain, arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis
I Fish oil Marine oil, marine fish
C Effectiveness Patient satisfaction, drug effects,

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O medicine Rheumatology, treatment outcome
The best two databases that used to search for evidence are MEDLINE and CINAHL.
According to CINAHL the databases shows the searches are:
 osteoarthritis (2,467)
 arthritis, rheumatoid (1,173)
 pain (350)
 fish oils (349)
 knee (186)
 arthritis, infectious (184)
As shown in brackets these databases show many results as compared to other databases for the
searches, these databases are chosen for this study.
Actions Search mode Results Limiters/ Expanders
S1
(MH “Knee Pain”) OR
("Osteoarthritis, Knee") OR
("Knee Joint")
Boolean 3029
Abstract Available;
Published Date:
20120101-20171231;
English Language; Peer
Reviewed
S2
(MH "Osteoarthritis,
Knee/DI/ET/TH/RF")
Boolean/Phrase 453
Expanders - Apply related
words
S3 (MH "Osteoarthritis,
Knee/CO/TH")
Boolean/Phrase 360 Limiters - Abstract
Available; Published Date:

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20130101-20171231;
English Language; Peer
Reviewed
S4 (MH “Fish Oils”) Boolean/Phrase 271
Limiters - Abstract
Available; Published
Date: 20100101-
20171231; English
Language; Peer Reviewed
S5 (MH "Fish Oils/DE/TU") Boolean/Phrase 75
Expanders - Apply related
words
According to the database search results two articles was found which were relevant to PICO
question.
1. Efficacy and safety of fish oil in treatment of knee osteoarthritis.
In this study, a total of 75 participants were distributed into a group three
consisting of 25 people studying the effects of results due to the use of fish oil. First
group was asked to use 1,000 mg and the second group was asked to use 2,000 mg once
daily continuously upto 8 weeks. The satisfaction rate of the patient was 9.06 out of 10
and also by response through verbally of 50 participants. It makes everyone felt good and
happy by using fish oil (Peanpadungrat, 2015).
2. Fish oil in knee osteoarthritis: a randomized clinical trial of low dose versus high
dose. Annals of the rheumatic diseases.

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In the study, randomized study is being done on 202 patients who are suffering
from the pain of osteoarthritis of knee. The first group was provided with high-dose of
fish oil and the second group was provided with a low-dose of fish oil 15 mL/day.
Results found that there is an improvement in the patients of both groups (Hill et al.,
2016).
Conclusion
In this assignment is has been described that evidence based practice with the help the
database search can be done to prove any type of queries that are related to healthcare. From the
first study it can be said that daily intake of 1,000-2,000 mg of fish oil shows significant change
in the improvement of knee movement and also proved to be safe for the treatment of
osteoarthritis patients (Davidson & Clark, 2015). The second article suggested that, both the
patients who were treated with high dose of fish oil and a low dose of fish-oil showed reduction
in the pain caused from osteoarthritis.
In this assignment by using the database search study it can be proved that there are evidences of
using the fish oil to treat the pain of the osteoarthritis (Gao et al., 2016). Despite of the
popularity that the fish oil can be used for arthritis, there are not enough evidence to prove that it
is the absolute way of treatment. But from the whole assignment it can be said that Peggy who is
suffering from osteoarthritis at knee and is dealing with pain can use fish oil as a medicine for
treatment. This will help her for reducing the pain of the joint and also the swelling.
References

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Chevalier, X., & Eymard, F. (2016). Low dose of fish oil in osteoarthritis: low effect?. Annals of
the rheumatic diseases, annrheumdis-2016. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-209399
Davidson, R. K., & Clark, I. M. (2015). Dietary intervention for osteoarthritis: Clinical trials
after the ‘Bone and Joint Decade’. Nutrition bulletin, 40(3), 203-210. doi:
10.1111/nbu.12154
Felson, D. T., & Bischoff-Ferrari, H. A. (2015). Dietary fatty acids for the treatment of OA,
including fish oil. Doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2015-208329
Gao, S. G., Zeng, C., Wei, J., Wang, Y. L., & Lei, G. H. (2016). Paying attention to the safety
and efficacy of fish oil in treatment of knee osteoarthritis. Annals of the rheumatic
diseases, 75(4), e13-e13. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2015-208880
Hill, C. L., March, L. M., Aitken, D., Lester, S. E., Battersby, R., Hynes, K., & Jones, G. (2016).
Fish oil in knee osteoarthritis: a randomised clinical trial of low dose versus high dose.
Annals of the rheumatic diseases, 75(1), 23-29. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-207169
Peanpadungrat, P. (2015). Efficacy and safety of fish oil in treatment of knee osteoarthritis. J
Med Assoc Thai, 98(Suppl 3), S110-14.