Blood n-3 fatty acid levels and total and cause-specific mortality from 17 prospective studies
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- William S. Harris, Nathan Tintle, Fumiaki Imamura, Frank Qian, Andres V Ardisson Korat, Matti Marklund, Luc Djoussé, Julie K. Bassett, Pierre‐Hugues Carmichael, Yun-Yu Chen, Yoichiro Hirakawa, Leanne K. Küpers, Federica Laguzzi, Maria Lankinen, Rachel A. Murphy, Cécilia Samieri, Mackenzie K. Senn, Peilin Shi, Jyrki K. Virtanen, Ingeborg A. Brouwer, Kuo‐Liong Chien, Guðný Eiríksdóttir, Nita G. Forouhi, Johanna M. Geleijnse, Graham G. Giles, Vilmundur Guðnason, Catherine Helmer, Allison Hodge, Rebecca D. Jackson, Kay‐Tee Khaw, Markku Laakso, Heidi Lai, Danielle Laurin, Karin Leander, Joan Lindsay, Renata Micha, Jaako Mursu, Toshiharu Ninomiya, Post Wendy, Bruce M. Psaty, Ulf Risérus, Jennifer G. Robinson, Aladdin H. Shadyab, Linda Snetselaar, Aleix Sala‐Vila, Yangbo Sun, Lyn M. Steffen, Michael Y. Tsai, Nicholas J. Wareham, Alexis C. Wood, Jason Wu, Frank B. Hu, Qi Sun, David S. Siscovick, Rozenn N. Lemaître, Dariush Mozaffarian
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Year
- 2021
- Citations
- 228
Abstract
The health effects of omega-3 fatty acids have been controversial. Here we report the results of a de novo pooled analysis conducted with data from 17 prospective cohort studies examining the associations between blood omega-3 fatty acid levels and risk for all-cause mortality. Over a median of 16 years of follow-up, 15,720 deaths occurred among 42,466 individuals. We found that, after multivariable adjustment for relevant risk factors, risk for death from all causes was significantly lower (by 15-18%, at least p < 0.003) in the highest vs the lowest quintile for circulating long chain (20-22 carbon) omega-3 fatty acids (eicosapentaenoic, docosapentaenoic, and docosahexaenoic acids). Similar relationships were seen for death from cardiovascular disease, cancer and other causes. No associations were seen with the 18-carbon omega-3, alpha-linolenic acid. These findings suggest that higher circulating levels of marine n-3 PUFA are associated with a lower risk of premature death.