Plasma polyunsaturated fatty acids and mental disorders in adolescence and early adulthood: cross-sectional and longitudinal associations in a general population cohort

Mongan, D., Healy, C., Jones, HJ, et al. Plasma polyunsaturated fatty acids and mental disorders in adolescence and early adulthood: cross-sectional and longitudinal associations in a general population cohort. Transl Psychiatry 11, 321 (2021). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-021-01425-4

Commentary

This study investigated the possible cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and the development of mental disorders.

Participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children were interviewed and provided blood samples at two sampling periods, ages 17 and 24 years, and plasma PUFA measurements were assessed using nuclear magnetic resonance

Standardized PUFA measurements and the three mental disorders were measured by logistic regression, adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, and smoking.

At age 17 years, there was little evidence of a cross-sectional association between PUFA measures and mental disorders; at age 24 years, the n-6:n-3 ratio was positively associated with psychotic disorders, depressive disorders, and GAD, whereas DHA was inversely associated. In a longitudinal analysis, there was evidence of an inverse association between DHA at age 17 and the occurrence of psychotic disorders at age 24, with little such evidence for depressive disorders or GAD.

There was little evidence of an association between changes in polyunsaturated fatty acid measurements from age 17 to 24 years and the occurrence of psychotic disorders at age 24 years.