Omega 6 fatty acids do not influence AF development

Biomarkers of omega 6 (n‒6) fatty acids, including linoleic acid (LA) and arachidonic acid (AA), show no significant relationship with incident atrial fibrillation (AF), a study has found.

“These findings suggest that overall effects of n–6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on influencing AF development are neutral,” the investigators said.

In this study, the association between circulating LA and AA levels with incident AF was prospectively evaluated using participant-level data from a global consortium of 11 prospective cohort studies with measurements of LA and AA in adults (aged ≥18 years).

Eligible studies carried out de novo analyses using a prespecified analytical plan with harmonized definitions for exposures, outcomes, covariates, and subgroups. The investigators used inverse-variance weighted meta-analysis to pool the associations.

A total of 41,335 participants were assessed over a median follow-up of 14 years, with 6,173 confirmed cases of incident AF.

Multivariate analysis per interquintile range (difference between the 10th and 90th percentiles for each fatty acid) revealed no association between circulating n‒6 levels with incident AF. The hazard ratio per interquintile range was 0.96 (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.89‒1.04) for LA and 1.02 (95 percent CI, 0.94‒1.10) for AA, with little evidence of heterogeneity between cohorts.

Likewise, these associations did not reach significance across subgroups of age, race, and biomarker fraction.

“The presence of AF is associated with an over twofold increased risk of stroke, heart failure, and cardiovascular mortality,” the investigators said. “Long chain n–6 PUFAs have been suggested to have a variety of beneficial biologic effects that may reduce AF development.”