The Change in Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Concentration is Positively Related to Plasma Docosahexaenoic Acid but not Eicosapentaenoic Acid

Hiroshige Itakura; Mitsuhiro Yokoyama; Masunori Matsuzaki; Yasushi Saito; Hideki Origasa; Yuichi Ishikawa; Shinichi Oikawa; Jun Sasaki; Hitoshi Hishida; Toru Kita; Akira Kitabatake; Noriaki Nakaya; Toshiie Sakata; Kazuyuki Shimada; Kunio Shirato; Yuji Matsuzawa

doi:10.5551/jat.11593

Original Article

The Change in Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Concentration is Positively Related to Plasma Docosahexaenoic Acid but not Eicosapentaenoic Acid

Hiroshige Itakura, Mitsuhiro Yokoyama, Masunori Matsuzaki, Yasushi Saito, Hideki Origasa, Yuichi Ishikawa, Shinichi Oikawa, Jun Sasaki, Hitoshi Hishida, Toru Kita, Akira Kitabatake, Noriaki Nakaya, Toshiie Sakata, Kazuyuki Shimada, Kunio Shirato, Yuji Matsuzawa

Author information

Hiroshige Itakura
Shinagawa East One Medical Clinic.
Mitsuhiro Yokoyama
Hyogo Brain and Heart Center.
Masunori Matsuzaki
Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine and Clinical Science, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine.
Yasushi Saito
Chiba University.
Hideki Origasa
Division of Biostatistics and Clinical Epidemiology, University of Toyama.
Yuichi Ishikawa
Kakogawa West City Hospital.
Shinichi Oikawa
Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Nippon Medical School.
Jun Sasaki
International University of Health and Welfare Graduate School of Public Health Medicine.
Hitoshi Hishida
Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Fujita Health University School of Medicine.
Toru Kita
Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital.
Akira Kitabatake
Hiraoka Hospital.
Noriaki Nakaya
Nakaya Clinic.
Toshiie Sakata
Hisatsune Hospital.
Kazuyuki Shimada
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Jichi Medical School.
Kunio Shirato
Saito Hospital.
Yuji Matsuzawa
Sumitomo Hospital.

Keywords: Eicosapentaenoic acid, Docosahexaenoic acid, Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, Triglycerides

JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS

2012 Volume 19 Issue 7 Pages 673-679

DOI https://doi.org/10.5551/jat.11593

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Details

Abstract

Aim: The Japan EPA Lipid Intervention Study (JELIS) reported a 19% reduction of the risk for coronary artery disease after long-term use of pure eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in Japanese patients with hypercholesterolemia. The variation in plasma fatty acid composition influenced the risk of coronary events. The aim of this study was to examine in JELIS participants the possible correlation of changes in plasma fatty acids with those of serum lipids.
Methods: The coefficient for the correlation between the absolute change in plasma fatty acid concentrations and the changes in serum lipids was calculated in 13,901 JELIS participants.
Results: Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol exhibited a positive correlation with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; r=0.117 in control group, r=0.155 in EPA group) and linoleic acid (r=0.139 in control group, r=0.177 in EPA group), but the correlation coefficients with EPA (r=0.097 in control group, r=−0.032 in EPA group) were less than 0.1. We distributed the patients into 9 groups according to tertiles of the change in EPA and DHA. The average absolute decrease of LDL cholesterol and L/H ratio in each group was significantly smaller (p<0.001) in the DHA-high tertile, but not in any EPA tertile.
Conclusion: The changes in DHA, but not in EPA, showed a positive correlation with the changes in LDL-cholesterol.

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