Association between plasma polyunsaturated fatty acids and depressive among US adults

Man Wang; Xiaofang Yan; Yanmei Li; Qian Li; Yingxia Xu; Jitian Huang; Juan Gan; Wenhan Yang

doi:10.3389/fnut.2024.1342304

Association between plasma polyunsaturated fatty acids and depressive among US adults

Front Nutr. 2024 Mar 13:11:1342304. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1342304. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Man Wang¹, Xiaofang Yan², Yanmei Li², Qian Li², Yingxia Xu², Jitian Huang², Juan Gan³, Wenhan Yang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutrition and Food Health, School of Public Health, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
² Department of Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
³ Guangzhou Baiyun District Maternal and Childcare Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.

Abstract

Background: Depression is associated with greater functional impairment and high societal costs than many other mental disorders. Research on the association between plasma polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) levels and depression have yielded inconsistent results.

Objective: To evaluate whether plasma n-3 and n-6 PUFAs levels are associated with depression in American adults.

Methods: A cross-sectional study included 2053 adults (aged ≥20 y) in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2011-2012. The level of plasma n-3 and n-6 PUFAs were obtained for analysis. Self-reported Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to identify the depression status. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the association between quartiles of plasma n-3 and n-6 PUFAs and depression after adjustments for confounders.

Results: The study of 2053 respondents over 20 years of age with a weighted depression prevalence of 7.29% comprised 1,043 men (weighted proportion, 49.13%) and 1,010 women (weighted, 50.87%), with a weighted mean (SE) age of 47.58 (0.67) years. Significantly increased risks of depression over non-depression were observed in the third quartiles (OR = 1.65, 95% CI = 1.05-2.62) for arachidonic acid (AA; 20:4n-6); the third quartiles (OR = 2.20, 95% CI = 1.20-4.05) for docosatetraenoic acid (DTA; 22:4n-6); the third (OR = 2.33, 95% CI = 1.34-4.07), and highest quartiles (OR = 1.83, 95% CI = 1.03-3.26) for docosapentaenoic acid (DPAn-6; 22:5n-6); and the third (OR = 2.18, 95% CI = 1.18-4.03) and highest quartiles (OR = 2.47, 95% CI = 1.31-4.68) for docosapentaenoic acid (DPAn-3; 22:5n-3); the second (OR = 2.13, 95% CI = 1.24-3.66), third (OR = 2.40, 95% CI = 1.28-4.50), and highest quartiles (OR = 2.24, 95% CI = 1.08-4.69) for AA/docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3) ratio compared with the lowest quartile after adjusting for confounding factors.

Conclusion: Higher plasma levels of AA, DTA, DPAn-6, DPAn-3 PUFAs, and AA/DHA ratio may be potential risk factors for depression in US adults.

Keywords: American; NHANES; PHQ-9; adult; depression; n-3; n-6; polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. WY, male, Doctor of Medicine, member of the Health Professional Committee of Children and Adolescent of Guangdong Provincial, member of the Children ‘s Mental Health Promotion Professional Committee of Guangdong Provincial Clinical Medical Association, has been committed to the study of children’s health. He has presided over 13 scientific research projects at all levels such as the general project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and participated in the compilation of 2 college planning textbooks. Published more than 30 SCI papers, including 4 Top journal articles by MW and WY, and participated in the review of Nature Communications, Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, and Journal of Pediatrics, etc. National Natural Science Foundation of China (Gant no. 81973063) and Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong, China (Grant no. 2018A030313723).