Intake of the mainly plant derived n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) α-linolenic acid (ALA) has been associated with lower risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). However, the results have been inconsistent. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the association between ALA consumption and risk of CHD. Potential effect modification by long-chain n-3 PUFA (n-3 LCPUFA) was also investigated. Data from eight American and European prospective cohort studies including 148,675 women and 80,368 men were used. The outcome measure was incident CHD (CHD event and death). During follow-up of 4-10 years, 4,493 CHD events and 1,751 CHD deaths occurred. Among men we found an inverse association (not significant) between intake of ALA and CHD event and death. For each additional gram of ALA, there was a 15% lower risk of CHD events (HR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.72, 1.01) and a 23% lower risk of CHD deaths (HR: 0.77; 95% CI 0.58, 1.01). We found no consistent associations among women. No effect modification by intake of n-3 LCPUFA was found.

This study suggests that there is no association between ALA intake and risk of IHD, but a high intake of n-3 LC-PUFA had a significant cardioprotective effect in women.

BackgroundStudies of the association between pre-deployment cognitive ability and post-deployment post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have shown mixed results.AimsTo study the influence of pre-deployment cognitive ability on PTSD symptoms 6–8 months post-deployment in a large population while controlling for pre-deployment education and deployment-related variables.MethodStudy linking prospective pre-deployment conscription board data with post-deployment self-reported data in 9695 Danish Army personnel deployed to different war zones in 1997–2013. The association between pre-deployment cognitive ability and post-deployment PTSD was investigated using repeated-measure logistic regression models. Two models with cognitive ability score as the main exposure variable were created (model 1 and model 2). Model 1 was only adjusted for pre-deployment variables, while model 2 was adjusted for both pre-deployment and deployment-related variables.ResultsWhen including only variables recorded pre-deployment (cognitive ability score and educational level) and gender (model 1), all variables predicted post-deployment PTSD. When deployment-related variables were added (model 2), this was no longer the case for cognitive ability score. However, when educational level was removed from the model adjusted for deployment-related variables, the association between cognitive ability and post-deployment PTSD became significant.ConclusionsPre-deployment lower cognitive ability did not predict post-deployment PTSD independently of educational level after adjustment for deployment-related variables.Declaration of interestNone.Copyright and usage© The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2017. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license.

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Utilization of MHS differed significantly between mission areas and was highest after the latest mission to Afghanistan.