Fishing for heart protection

Are fish eaters healthier and do they consume less health-care resources?

Objective

Regular dietary intake of fish is associated with reduced risk of developing cardiovascular and other chronic diseases, and may improve general well-being. If fish eaters are healthier, they may use fewer health-care resources. The present study aimed to describe the reported intake of fish and fish products in a Danish general population, and to investigate whether fish consumption is associated with generic measures of self-reported health and consumption of health-care resources.

Design

Data on eating patterns and health status for 3422 Danish adults were obtained by telephone interview in the Funen County Health Survey. These data were merged with individual-level register data on health-care utilisation. Survey respondents were categorised into those consuming fish at least once weekly (fish eaters) and those consuming fish less frequently (non-fish eaters).

Results

People who reported eating fish twice monthly or once weekly had significantly better overall self-reported health than those who rarely eat fish, even after adjustment for age, gender, social characteristics and lifestyle factors. Fish eaters did not have significantly lower aggregated health-care costs, although their hospital utilisation was significantly lower than that for non-fish eaters.

Conclusions

Moderate fish consumption was associated with better self-reported general health even after controlling for possible confounding variables. Overall, fish eaters appeared to use the same amount of health-care resources as non-eaters, although fish eaters used more medicine but were less likely to be admitted to a hospital.