@article {6397, title = {Plasma phospholipid saturated fatty acids and incident atrial fibrillation: the Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {J Am Heart Assoc}, volume = {3}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Jun 26}, pages = {e000889}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Prior studies suggest that circulating fatty acids may influence the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF), but little is known about the associations of circulating saturated fatty acids with risk of AF.

METHODS AND RESULTS: The study population included 2899 participants from the Cardiovascular Health Study, a community-based longitudinal cohort of adults aged 65 years or older in the United States who were free of prevalent coronary heart disease and AF in 1992. Cox regression was used to assess the association of all the long-chain saturated fatty acids-palmitic acid (16:0), stearic acid (18:0), arachidic acid (20:0), behenic acid (22:0), and lignoceric acid (24:0)-with incident AF. During a median of 11.2 years of follow-up, 707 cases of incident AF occurred. After adjustment for other AF risk factors, higher levels of circulating 16:0 were associated with a higher risk of AF (hazard ratio comparing highest and lowest quartiles: 1.48; 95\% CI: 1.18, 1.86). In contrast, higher levels of circulating 18:0, 20:0, 22:0, and 24:0 were each associated with a lower risk of AF. The hazard ratios (95\% CI) for AF in the top and bottom quartiles were 0.76 (95\% CI: 0.61, 0.95) for 18:0; 0.78 (95\% CI: 0.63, 0.97) for 20:0; 0.62 (95\% CI: 0.50, 0.78) for 22:0; and 0.68 (95\% CI: 0.55, 0.85) for 24:0.

CONCLUSIONS: Results from this prospective cohort study of older adults demonstrate divergent associations of circulating 16:0 versus longer-chain saturated fatty acids with incident AF, highlighting the need to investigate both determinants of these levels and potential pathways of the observed differential risk.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Atrial Fibrillation, Eicosanoic Acids, Fatty Acids, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Palmitic Acid, Phospholipids, Proportional Hazards Models, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Stearic Acids, United States}, issn = {2047-9980}, doi = {10.1161/JAHA.114.000889}, author = {Fretts, Amanda M and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Siscovick, David S and Djouss{\'e}, Luc and Heckbert, Susan R and King, Irena B and McKnight, Barbara and Sitlani, Colleen and Sacks, Frank M and Song, Xiaoling and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Spiegelman, Donna and Wallace, Erin R and Lemaitre, Rozenn N} } @article {6929, title = {Associations of Plasma Phospholipid SFAs with Total and Cause-Specific Mortality in Older Adults Differ According to SFA Chain Length.}, journal = {J Nutr}, volume = {146}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Feb}, pages = {298-305}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Not much is known about the relations of circulating saturated fatty acids (SFAs), which are influenced by both metabolic and dietary determinants, with total and cause-specific mortality.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the associations of plasma phospholipid SFAs with total and cause-specific mortality among 3941 older adults from the Cardiovascular Health Study, a population-based prospective study of adults aged >=65 y who were followed from 1992 through 2011.

METHODS: The relations of total and cause-specific mortality with plasma phospholipid palmitic acid (16:0), stearic acid (18:0), arachidic acid (20:0), behenic acid (22:0), and lignoceric acid (24:0) were assessed using Cox proportional hazards models.

RESULTS: During 45,450 person-years of follow-up, 3134 deaths occurred. Higher concentrations of the plasma phospholipid SFAs 18:0, 22:0, and 24:0 were associated with a lower risk of total mortality [multivariable-adjusted HRs (95\% CIs)] for the top compared with the bottom quintile: 0.85 (0.75, 0.95) for 18:0; 0.85 (0.75, 0.95) for 22:0; and 0.80 (0.71, 0.90) for 24:0. In contrast, plasma 16:0 concentrations in the highest quintile were associated with a higher risk of total mortality compared with concentrations in the lowest quintile [1.25 (1.11, 1.41)]. We also found no association of plasma phospholipid 20:0 with total mortality.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the associations of plasma phospholipid SFAs with the risk of death differ according to SFA chain length and support future studies to better characterize the determinants of circulating SFAs and to explore the mechanisms underlying these relations.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cause of Death, Diet, Dietary Fats, Eicosanoic Acids, Fatty Acids, Female, Humans, Male, Mortality, Palmitic Acid, Phospholipids, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Stearic Acids}, issn = {1541-6100}, doi = {10.3945/jn.115.222117}, author = {Fretts, Amanda M and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Siscovick, David S and King, Irena B and McKnight, Barbara and Psaty, Bruce M and Rimm, Eric B and Sitlani, Colleen and Sacks, Frank M and Song, Xiaoling and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Spiegelman, Donna and Lemaitre, Rozenn N} }