title: Plasma phospholipid saturated fatty acids and incident atrial fibrillation: the Cardiovascular Health Study.
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.
  
  
  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.
authors: Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (A.M.F., D.S.S., S.R.H., E.R.W.).
authors: Amanda M
authors: AM
authors: Fretts
authors: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (D.M., D.S.) Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (D.M., F.M.S.) Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (D.M., F.M.S.) Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (D.M., F.M.S.) Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, MA (D.M.).
authors: Dariush
authors: D
authors: Mozaffarian
authors: Cardiovascular Health Research Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (D.S.S., C.S., N.S., R.N.L.) Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (A.M.F., D.S.S., S.R.H., E.R.W.).
authors: David S
authors: DS
authors: Siscovick
authors: Division of Aging, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (L.D.).
authors: Luc
authors: L
authors: Djousse
authors: Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (A.M.F., D.S.S., S.R.H., E.R.W.).
authors: Susan R
authors: SR
authors: Heckbert
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (I.B.K.).
authors: Irena B
authors: IB
authors: King
authors: Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (B.M.K.).
authors: Barbara
authors: B
authors: McKnight
authors: Cardiovascular Health Research Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (D.S.S., C.S., N.S., R.N.L.).
authors: Colleen
authors: C
authors: Sitlani
authors: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (D.M., F.M.S.) Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (D.M., F.M.S.) Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (D.M., F.M.S.).
authors: Frank M
authors: FM
authors: Sacks
authors: Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA (X.S.).
authors: Xiaoling
authors: X
authors: Song
authors: Cardiovascular Health Research Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (D.S.S., C.S., N.S., R.N.L.).
authors: Nona
authors: N
authors: Sotoodehnia
authors: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (D.M., D.S.) Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (D.S.).
authors: Donna
authors: D
authors: Spiegelman
authors: Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (A.M.F., D.S.S., S.R.H., E.R.W.).
authors: Erin R
authors: ER
authors: Wallace
authors: Cardiovascular Health Research Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (D.S.S., C.S., N.S., R.N.L.).
authors: Rozenn N
authors: RN
authors: Lemaitre
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology; D004537:Eicosanoic Acids / Q000097:blood; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D019308:Palmitic Acid / Q000097:blood; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000097:blood*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013229:Stearic Acids / Q000097:blood; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D004537:Eicosanoic Acids; D005227:Fatty Acids; D010743:Phospholipids; D013229:Stearic Acids; D019308:Palmitic Acid; C031183:stearic acid; C007547:behenic acid; C094477:arachidic acid; C010210:lignoceric acid
keywords: atrial fibrillation; epidemiology; fatty acid