Corn Oil in Treatment of Ischaemic Heart Disease

Abstract

Eighty patients with ischaemic heart disease were allocated randomly to three treatment groups. The first was a control group. The second received a supplement of olive oil with restriction of animal fat. The third received corn oil with restriction of animal fat. The serum-cholesterol levels fell in the corn-oil group, but by the end of two years the proportions of patients remaining alive and free of reinfarction (fatal or non-fatal) were 75 %, 57%, and 52% in the three groups respectively. The likelihood that the worse experience of the patients treated with corn oil was due to chance alone was 0.05—0.1. The likelihood that the trial failed by chance to detect a true and important benefit from corn oil was extremely remote. It is concluded that under the circumstances of this trial corn oil cannot be recommended in the treatment of ischaemic heart disease. © 1965, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.