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Nutrition in acute and chronic diseases

Intake of marine n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and the risk of incident peripheral artery disease

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 75, pages 1483–1490 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background

A high intake of marine n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) may lower the risk of coronary heart disease and ischemic stroke. The association between intake of marine n-3 PUFAs and development of peripheral artery disease (PAD), however, remains unexplored. We hypothesised that intake of marine n-3 PUFAs, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and the sum of EPA + DHA was associated with a lower risk of incident PAD.

Methods

We used data from the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort and investigated the associations between intake of EPA, DHA and EPA + DHA and development of PAD. Information on intake of n-3 PUFAs was obtained through a validated food frequency questionnaire. Potential PAD cases were identified through linkage to the Danish National Patient Register and subsequently, all cases were validated.

Results

Data were available from 55,248 participants and during a median of 13.6 years of follow-up, 950 cases of PAD were identified. Multivariate Cox regression analyses with adjustments for established risk factors showed no statistically significant associations between intake of EPA (p = 0.255), DHA (p = 0.071) or EPA + DHA (p = 0.168) and the rate of incident PAD.

Conclusions

We did not confirm our hypothesis that intake of EPA, DHA or EPA + DHA was associated with a lower risk of incident PAD.

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Acknowledgements

This study would not have been possible without the support by The Danish Cancer Society, which funded the establishment of Diet, Cancer and Health cohort.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, Aalborg University Hospital, 9000, Aalborg, Denmark

    Linda Tram, Christian S. Bork, Stine K. Venø, Erik B. Schmidt & Kim Overvad

  2. Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, 9000, Aalborg, Denmark

    Stine K. Venø & Erik B. Schmidt

  3. Department of Vascular Surgery, Aalborg University Hospital, 9000, Aalborg, Denmark

    Anne N. Lasota

  4. Unit of Clinical Biostatistics, Aalborg University Hospital, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark

    Søren Lundbye-Christensen

  5. Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, 8000, Aarhus, Denmark

    Kim Overvad

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  1. Linda Tram
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the conceptualisation of the present study. LT conducted the statistical analyses, prepared the tables and figures and wrote the first draft of the paper. LT, CSB, SVK, ANL, SLC, EBS and KO contributed to the planning of the statistical analyses, interpretation of the data and writing of the paper. CSB and SLC supervised the conduct of the statistical analyses. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the data and writing of the paper. All authors have read and approved the final paper.

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Correspondence to Linda Tram.

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Tram, L., Bork, C.S., Venø, S.K. et al. Intake of marine n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and the risk of incident peripheral artery disease. Eur J Clin Nutr 75, 1483–1490 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-021-00858-w

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