. 2014 Feb 27;9(2):e90442. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090442

Table 2. Plasma concentrations of fatty acids at baseline among cases and controls.

Fatty acids	Controls	Overall cancer	Breast cancer	P¹
	(n = 250)	cases (n = 250)	cases (n = 154)
	% of total fatty acids (± SD)
Total SFAs	28.39±2.34	28.05±2.36	27.78±2.14	0.1
14:0 (myristic acid)	1.06±0.44	1.01±0.44	0.97±0.43	0.2
16:0 (palmitic acid)	20.60±1.97	20.32±2.08	20.06±1.97	0.2
18:0 (stearic acid)	6.71±0.77	6.66±0.80	6.69±0.86	0.5
20:0 (arachidic acid)	0.06±0.02	0.06±0.02	0.06±0.02	0.8
Total MUFAs (cis)	21.67±3.11	21.58±3.18	21.06±2.73	0.7
16:1 n-7 (palmitoleic acid)	2.23±0.79	2.15±0.84	2.06±0.68	0.3
18:1 n-7 cis (vaccenic acid)	1.42±0.24	1.47±0.75	1.49±0.94	0.3
18:1 n-9 (oleic acid)	18.02±2.58	17.95±2.55	17.52±2.21	0.7
Total n-6 PUFAs	44.50±4.57	44.62±4.83	45.38±4.21	0.8
18:2 n-6 (linoleic acid)	33.73±4.70	34.06±4.67	34.83±4.17	0.4
18:3 n-6 (λ-linolenic acid)	0.53±0.22	0.49±0.19	0.45±0.18	0.05
20:2 n-6 (eicosadienoic acid)	0.21±0.05	0.21±0.05	0.21±0.05	0.5
20:3 n-6 (dihomo-γ-linolenic acid)	1.61±0.37	1.52±0.33	1.51±0.36	0.003
20:4 n-6 (arachidonic acid)	8.19±1.53	8.13±1.59	8.18±1.60	0.6
22:4 n-6 (docosatetraenoic acid)	0.2 1±0.09	0.21±0.08	0.20±0.07	0.7
Total n-3 PUFAs	5.09±1.54	5.43±2.50	5.47±2.71	0.08
18:3 n-3 (α-linolenic acid)	0.51±0.15	0.52±0.17	0.52±0.16	0.2
20:5 n-3 (eicosapentaenoic acid)	1.34±0.82	1.52±1.42	1.50±1.55	0.1
22:5 n-3 (docosapentaenoic acid)	0.55±0.14	0.57±0.20	0.57±0.21	0.2
22:6 n-3 (docosahexaenoic acid)	2.69±0.77	2.82±1.05	2.88±1.10	0.1
n-9 PUFAs
20:3 n-9 (mead acid)	0.15±0.09	0.13±0.05	0.13±0.05	0.01
Total PUFAs	49.58±4.72	50.05±4.67	50.85±3.78	0.2
Ratio
n-3/n-6	0.12±0.03	0.13±0.08	0.13±0.09	0.09
20:4 n-6/20:3 n-6	5.32±1.58	5.59±1.53	5.70±1.61	0.05
20:3 n-6/18:2n-6	0.05±0.01	0.04±0.01	0.04±0.01	0.004
18:1n-9/18:0	2.73±0.52	2.73±0.49	2.66±0.48	0.9
Quantity of total fatty acids (µmol/L)²	11038.23±2013.56	11330.45±2732.49	10870.56±1953.79	0.3

P for the comparison of overall cancer cases and controls by unadjusted conditional logistic regression (only matching factors).

Mean and SD for total quantity of fatty acids. This information was available for 174 cancer cases (among which 113 breast cancers) and 174 controls).