Introduction

Survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI) continue to suffer from long-term disabilities.

Aim

To investigate the effect of omega-3 on serum levels of interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 in patients with traumatic brain injury.

Material and methods

In this double-blind clinical trial study 80 patients with TBI divided into two 40-memebr groups (50 mg/kg oral omega-3 capsule group, and oral placebo capsule group). Patients took these capsules for 7 days, occurrence of leukocytosis and leukopaenia and Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) was measured. Serum levels of IL-1β and IL-6 were measured on day 7 in each of the two groups. The data were analysed using SPSS software version 20.

Results and conclusions

There was no significant difference between basic demographic information such as age (p = 0.86), gender (p = 0.64), APACHE II (p = 0.16), and start of GCS (p = 0.36) in the two groups. On the seventh day, the mean GCS was 8.90 ±2.03 in the control group and 9.92 ±2.69 in the case group (p = 0.05), and the mean white blood cells (WBC) on the third day (p = 0.22) and seventh day (p = 0.58), mean of temperature (p = 0.21), without mechanical ventilation day (p = 0.89), and length of stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) (p = 0.27) showed no significant differences between the two groups. The serum level of IL-1β was 1154.94 ±234.31 for the control group and 2133.36 ±568.08 for the case group (p = 0.31), but the IL-6 level was 296.02 ±137.02 in the control group and 208.54 ±90.61, in the case group that showed significant differences between them (p = 0.001).