Table 4.
Estimated fatty acid ratios and enzyme activity indexes.
| Term Infants at Birth (n = 10) |
Preterm Infants at Birth (n = 30) |
p Value | Preterm Infants at 30 Days (n = 17) |
p Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fatty acid ratios: | |||||
| Omega-3 index | 4.73 (0.60) | 4.30 (0.81) | 0.150 | 4.14 (0.53) | 0.015 |
| n-6 PUFA/n-3 PUFA | 4.16 (0.80) | 5.70 (1.40) | 0.0003 | 5.43 (0.91) | 0.0018 |
| ARA/DHA | 2.90 (0.38) | 3.81 (0.87) | 0.0003 | 3.63 (0.51) | 0.0006 |
| ARA/EPA | 25.34 (23.46) | 132.10 (91.86) | <0.0001 | 36.06 (22.85) | 0.242 |
| EPA/DHA | 0.23 (0.17) | 0.038 (0.020) | <0.0001 | 0.18 (0.18) | 0.464 |
| LA/ARA | 0.81 (0.17) | 0.26 (0.07) | <0.0001 | 0.70 (0.25) | 0.053 |
| AIFAI, % | 57.38 (11.62) | 44.02 (8.71) | <0.0001 | 49.54 (7.50) | 0.028 |
| EFASTI | 1.37 (0.10) | 1.44 (0.25) | 0.739 | 1.38 (0.10) | 0.814 |
| DHASI | 8.70 (2.51) | 4.32 (1.65) | <0.0001 | 5.50 (1.87) | 0.001 |
| DHADI | 0.28 (0.07) | 0.38 (0.06) | 0.0006 | 0.28 (0.07) | 0.719 |
| Enzyme activity indexes: | |||||
| 16-SCD | 0.037 (0.024) | 0.034 (0.010) | 0.453 | 0.025 (0.011) | 0.177 |
| 18-SCD | 0.88 (0.16) | 0.71 (0.10) | 0.0019 | 0.92 (0.07) | 0.173 |
| D5D | 6.88 (1.41) | 6.97 (1.87) | >0.999 | 5.93 (1.20) | 0.023 |
| D6D | 0.18 (0.10) | 0.60 (0.13) | <0.0001 | 0.27 (0.08) | 0.001 |
| Elongase | 0.69 (0.10) | 0.74 (0.14) | 0.120 | 0.72 (0.05) | 0.143 |
Data as mean and standard deviation (SD) in parenthesis. PUFA: polyunsaturated fatty acid; ARA: arachidonic acid; DHA: docosahexaenoic acid; EPA: eicosapentaenoic acid; LA: linoleic acid; AIFAI: anti-inflammatory fatty acid index; EFASTI: essential fatty acid index; DHASI: DHA sufficiency index; DHADI: DHA deficiency index; SCD: stearoyl-CoA desaturase; D5D: delta-5-desaturase; D6D: delta-6-desaturase (D6D).