Table 2.

N-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid plasma concentrations and ratios in the bipolar disorder and healthy control groups at baseline and follow-up (nmol/mL)

	Baseline			Bipolar disorder, follow-up
	Healthy controls (n = 31)	Bipolar disorder (n = 27)	p-value	Baseline (n = 13)	Follow-up (n = 13)	p-value
	Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)		Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)
ALA
E	19.89 (25.64)	18.86 (12.81)	0.85	18.48 (17.30)	25.45 (15.42)	0.18
UE	2.10 (2.80)	1.40 (1.77)	0.27	0.88 (1.06)	2.28 (1.72)	0.02
DHA
E	220.93 (93.79)	221.37 (83.10)	0.99	227.46 (84.10)	177.71 (161.19)	0.28
UE	1.07 (0.64)	1.04 (1.04)	0.89	0.73 (0.38)	0.55 (0.26)	0.11
EPA
E	8.91 (6.94)	13.91 (13.39)	0.07	14.62 (18.98)	12.68 (6.86)	0.75
UE	0.32 (0.18)	0.20 (0.08)	0.002	0.21 (0.06)	0.31 (0.26)	0.16
UE:E
ALA	0.14 (0.13)	0.08 (0.10)	0.05	0.08 (0.13)	0.12 (0.10)	0.27
DHA	0.006 (0.005)	0.005 (0.003)	0.34	0.004 (0.003)	0.005 (0.003)	0.32
EPA	0.05 (0.03)	0.02 (0.01)	9 × 10−5	0.02 (0.02)	0.04 (0.07)	0.24
DHA:ALA
E	18.20 (11.34)	14.27 (6.05)	0.10	16.15 (6.05)	7.44 (5.36)	0.001
UE	0.92 (0.86)	1.13 (0.77)	0.33	1.12 (0.43)	0.31 (0.17)	4 × 10−5
EPA:ALA
E	0.61 (0.23)	0.71 (0.18)	0.07	0.72 (0.19)	0.54 (0.20)	0.06
UE	0.28 (0.18)	0.26 (0.17)	0.78	0.36 (0.17)	0.19 (0.16)	0.002
EPA:DHA
E	0.05 (0.03)	0.08 (0.12)	0.13	0.09 (0.17)	0.10 (0.07)	0.86
UE	0.39 (0.29)	0.30 (0.21)	0.18	0.37 (0.24)	0.58 (0.29)	0.03

SD = standard deviation; E = esterified; UE = unesterified; ALA = alpha-linolenic acid; DHA = docosahexaenoic acid; EPA = eicosapentaenoic acid.