• Lotte Maxild Mortensen, Søren Lundbye-Christensen, Erik Berg Schmidt, Philip C Calder, Mikkel Heide Schierup, Anne Tjønneland, Erik T Parner, and Kim Overvad.
• Department of Public Health, Section for Epidemiology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
• Plos One. 2017 Jan 1; 12 (12): e0190262.

BackgroundStudies of the relation between polyunsaturated fatty acids and risk of atrial fibrillation have been inconclusive. The risk of atrial fibrillation may depend on the interaction between n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids as both types of fatty acids are involved in the regulation of systemic inflammation.ObjectiveWe investigated the association between dietary intake of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (individually and in combination) and the risk of atrial fibrillation with focus on potential interaction between the two types of polyunsaturated fatty acids.DesignThe risk of atrial fibrillation in the Diet, Cancer and Health Cohort was analyzed using the pseudo-observation method to explore cumulative risks on an additive scale providing risk differences. Dietary intake of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids was assessed by food frequency questionnaires. The main analyses were adjusted for the dietary intake of n-3 α-linolenic acid and n-6 linoleic acid to account for endogenous synthesis of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. Interaction was assessed as deviation from additivity of absolute association measures (risk differences).ResultsCumulative risks in 15-year age periods were estimated in three strata of the cohort (N = 54,737). No associations between intake of n-3 or n-6 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and atrial fibrillation were found, neither when analyzed separately as primary exposures nor when interaction between n-3 and n-6 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids was explored.ConclusionThis study suggests no association between intake of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and risk of atrial fibrillation.

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