Causal Effects of Serum Levels of n-3 or n-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids on Coronary Artery Disease: Mendelian Randomization Study

We aimed to investigate the causal effects of n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) through Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. This MR study utilized a genetic instrument developed from previous genome-wide association studies for various serum n-3 and n-6 PUFA levels. First, we calculated the allele scores for genetic predisposition of PUFAs in individuals of European ancestry in the UK Biobank data (N = 337,129). The allele score-based MR was obtained by regressing the allele scores to CAD risks. Second, summary-level MR was performed with the CARDIoGRAMplusC4D data for CAD (N = 184,305). Higher genetically predicted eicosapentaenoic acid and dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid levels were significantly associated with a lower risk of CAD both in the allele-score-based and summary-level MR analyses. Higher allele scores for linoleic acid level were significantly associated with lower CAD risks, and in the summary-level MR, the causal estimates by the pleiotropy-robust MR methods also indicated that higher linoleic acid levels cause a lower risk of CAD. Arachidonic acid showed significant causal estimates for a higher risk of CAD. This study supports the causal effects of certain n-3 and n-6 PUFA types on the risk of CAD.

Automated summary

The study found that higher levels of eicosapentaenoic acid and dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid are associated with a lower risk of coronary artery disease, while higher levels of linoleic acid are also linked to lower CAD risk. Arachidonic acid, on the other hand, showed significant causal estimates for a higher risk of CAD.