Table 4.

Relations^a,^b between plasma phospholipid omega-3 fatty acids (%) and markers of inflammation and endothelial function among a selected sample of participants enrolled in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, n=2846^c

Fatty acid	Biomarker	Tertiles of phospholipid fatty acid			P-valuea	P-valueb
		1	2	3
Omega-3 FA
18:3 n3 (ALA)	hsCRP	1.82	1.70	1.68	0.08	0.25
	IL-6	1.17	1.16	1.17	0.67	0.84
	TNF-r	1.18	1.21	1.20	0.80	0.88
	E-selectin	48.7	50.2	49.9	0.72	0.64
	sICAM-1d	262.8	266.6	272.5	0.13	0.009
20:5 n3 (EPA)	hsCRP	1.78	1.79	1.63	0.22	0.17
	IL-6	1.21	1.17	1.12	0.05	0.02
	TNF-r	1.25	1.18	1.16	<0.001	<0.001
	E-selectin	47.1	48.6	51.7	0.05	0.05
	sICAM-1d	NA	NA	NA
22:5 n3 (DPA)	hsCRP	2.08	1.70	1.48	<0.001	<0.001
	IL-6	1.26	1.19	1.06	<0.001	<0.001
	TNF-r	1.25	1.17	1.17	0.58	0.68
	E-selectin	47.7	49.4	52.0	0.12	0.03
	sICAM-1d	269.4	265.6	267.3	0.74	<0.001
22:6 n3 (DHA)	hsCRP	1.79	1.82	1.60	0.04	0.22
	IL-6	1.24	1.20	1.06	<0.001	<0.001
	TNF-r	1.24	1.19	1.16	0.05	0.02
	E-selectin	48.9	48.1	50.2	0.58	0.36
	sICAM-1d	268.9	261.0	273.4	0.08	0.46

Abbreviations: ALA, alpha linolenic acid; DHA, docosahexaenoic acid; DPA, docosapenaenoic acid; EPA, eicosapentaenoic acid; FA, fatty acid; hsCRP, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; IL, interleukin; LA, linoleic acid; sICAM-1, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1; TNF, tumor necrosis factor receptor. NA: not applicable as joint effects were reported in Table 2.

^aAdjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, field center, education, smoking, physical activity and energy intake.

^bAdjusted further for body mass index, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, triglycerides and diagnosed diabetes.

^cSample size for CRP: n=2848; IL-6: n=2796; TNF-r: n=998; E-selectin: n=998; sICAM: n=1193.

^dBlack participants were excluded from the sICAM-1 analysis, as discussed in the Strengths and limitations section. Bold values indicate a significant intra-group difference.