Circulating polyunsaturated fatty acids and COVID-19: a prospective cohort study and Mendelian randomization analysis

Abstract

Background: Higher circulating polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), especially omega-3 ones, have been linked to a better prognosis in patients of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the effects and causality of pre-infection PUFA levels remain unclear. Objective: To investigate the observational and causal associations of circulating PUFAs with COVID-19 susceptibility and severity. Design: We first performed a prospective cohort study in UK Biobank, with 20,626 controls who were tested negative and 4,101 COVID-19 patients, including 970 hospitalized ones. Plasma PUFAs at baseline were measured by nuclear magnetic resonance, including total PUFAs, omega-3 PUFAs, omega-6 PUFAs, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), linoleic acid (LA), and the omega-6/omega-3 ratio. Moreover, bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were performed to examine the causal associations of eight individual PUFAs, measured in either plasma or red blood cells, with COVID-19 susceptibility and severity using summary statistics from existing genome-wide association studies. Results: In the observational association analysis, total PUFAs, omega-3 PUFAs, omega-6 PUFAs, DHA, and LA were associated with a lower risk of severe COVID-19. Omega-3 PUFAs and DHA were also associated with a lower risk of testing positive for COVID-19. The omega-6/omega-3 ratio was positively associated with risks of both susceptibility and severity. The forward MR analysis indicated that arachidonic acid (AA) and docosapentaenoic acid (DPA-n3) might be causally associated with a lower risk of severe COVID-19, with OR (95% CI) per one SD increase in the plasma level as 0.96 (0.94, 0.99) and 0.89 (0.81, 0.99), respectively. The reverse MR analysis did not support any causal effect of COVID-19 on PUFAs. Conclusions: Our observational analysis supported that higher circulating PUFAs, either omega-3 or omega-6, are protective against severe COVID-19, while omega-3 PUFAs, especially DHA, were also associated with reducing COVID-19 susceptibility. Our MR analysis further supported causal associations of AA and DPA-n3 with a lower risk of severe COVID-19.

COVID-19 and Lipid Disorders

“…On the other hand, total PUFAs, omega-6 PUFAs, linoleic acid (LA), and the omega-3 index measured as the percentage of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in red blood cell (RBC) fatty acids, are lower in COVID-19 patients and even lower in severe cases of disease [15]. A higher omega-3 index in COVID-19 patients was further associated with lower risks of requiring mechanical ventilation and death.…”

“…Higher circulating PUFAs (omega-3 or omega-6) are protective against severe COVID-19, while omega-3 PUFAs, (e. g., DHA) were associated with reducing COVID-19 susceptibility [15]. There is no available evidence for the use of omega-3 fatty acids in acute SARS-COV-2 infection or illness.…”

“…Interesting, another study using the UK Biobank showed inverse associations of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) with COVID-19 susceptibility [15]. In contrast, the omega-6/omega-3 ratio was positively associated with this susceptibility.…”

Awareness of the relationship between chemopreventive behaviours and occurrence of cancer in patients with selected types of cancer.

“…Substancje o udowodnionym działaniu chemoprewencyjnym oraz immunostymulującym to m.in. : związki fitochemiczne (polifenole, karotenoidy), składniki mineralne (wapń, selen, cynk, żelazo, miedź), błonnik pokarmowy, witaminy (A, D, E, C, B 6 , B 12 , B 9 ) wielonienasycone kwasy tłuszczowe z rodziny omega-3 oraz probiotyki i prebiotyki [5][6][7][8][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”

“…W badaniach przeprowadzonych przez Kiciak i wsp. ryby i ich przetwory, będące bogatym źródłem wielonienasyconych kwasów tłuszczowych z rodziny omega-3, których działanie immunostymulujące oraz chemoprewenecyjne zostało udowodnione licznymi badaniami [6,21,22,24], codziennie spożywa 5,0% zarówno grupy kobiet, jak i mężczyzn, kilka razy w tygodniu 9,0% kobiet i 12,0% mężczyzn, a kilka razy w miesiącu ryby i przetwory rybne jada 60,3% kobiet i 57,1% mężczyzn, natomiast w ogóle ryb nie spożywa tylko 9% kobiet i 2% mężczyzn [41]. Podobne wyniki otrzymano w badaniach własnych: ryby morskie codziennie spożywa 2,9% kobiet i żaden mężczyzna, kilka razy w tygodniu ryby te konsumuje 37,1% kobiet i 32,0% mężczyzn, kilka razy w miesiącu 42,9% kobiet i 56,0% mężczyzn, natomiast w ogóle ryb morskich nie spożywa 11,4% kobiet i 0,0% mężczyzn.…”