Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
Volume 179, Issue 12, Pages 1458-1466Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwu086
Keywords
diet; docosahexaenoic acid; eicosapentaenoic acid; fish; linoleic acid; n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids; suicide
Categories
Funding
- National Cancer Institute (National Institutes of Health (NIH)) [P01CA087969, U19CA055075, R01CA050385]
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIH) [K23MH096620, R01MH091448]
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH) [R01NS061858]
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Intake of n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of depression. We sought to estimate the association between intake of fish and n-3 and n-6 PUFAs and suicide mortality over the course of long-term follow-up. In this prospective cohort study, biennial questionnaires were administered to 42,290 men enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1988-2008), 72,231 women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study (1986-2008), and 90,836 women enrolled in Nurses' Health Study II (1993-2007). Dietary fish and n-3 and n-6 PUFA intakes were assessed every 4 years using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Suicide mortality was ascertained through blind physician review of death certificates and hospital or pathology reports. Adjusted relative risks of suicide mortality were estimated with multivariable Cox proportional hazards models and pooled across cohorts using random-effects meta-analysis. The pooled multivariable relative risks for suicide among persons in the highest quartile of intake of n-3 or n-6 PUFAs, relative to the lowest quartile, ranged from 1.08 to 1.46 for n-3 PUFAs (P-trend = 0.11-0.52) and from 0.68 to 1.19 for n-6 PUFAs (P-trend = 0.09-0.54). We did not find evidence that intake of n-3 PUFAs or fish lowered the risk of completed suicide.
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