Linoleic acid in adipose tissue and the risk of myocardial infarction: a case-cohort study

We investigated risk of myocardial infarction (MI) associated with the content of linoleic acid (LA) in adipose tissue, a biomarker of long-term dietary intake of LA and a marker of endogenous LA exposure.

Between 1993 and 1997, 57,053 middle-aged subjects were included in the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort. We performed a case-cohort study that included a random sample of the full cohort (n = 3167) and all incident MI cases appearing during 16 years of follow-up (n = 2819). Information on incident MI cases was obtained by linkage with Danish nationwide registries. Adipose tissue biopsies were taken from the buttocks of the participants, and their fatty acid composition was determined using gas chromatography. HRs (hazard ratios) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to describe the associations between content of LA in adipose tissue and the risk of MI. HRs were calculated using weighted Cox proportional hazards regression with robust variance.

After adjustment for established risk factors of MI, adipose tissue content of LA was not associated with the risk of MI in men and women combined (quintiles 5 versus 1, HR, 1.03 (95% CI, 0.85-1.25), P-trend = 0.970) or in men and women separately (quintiles 5 versus 1, HR, 1.05 (95% CI, 0.83-1.33), P-trend = 0.871 and quintiles 5 versus 1, HR, 0.99 (95% CI 0.72-1.37), P-trend = 0.928, respectively). Investigating the association between LA and MI with a shorter, 5- or 10-year duration of follow-up provided similar results.

Content of LA in adipose tissue was not associated with the risk of MI.