ASSOCIATION OF THE FATTY-ACID COMPOSITION OF SERUM PHOSPHOLIPIDS WITHHEMOSTATIC FACTORS

It has been suggested that the fatty acid composition of serum phospho lipids is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. We ex amined the association of the fatty acid composition of serum phosphol ipids with fibrinogen, factor VII antigen (FVII:Ag), factor VII coagul ant activity (FVII:C), plasminogen, and lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] in 338 men and 363 women 45 to 64 years old. Palmitic acid, the most abundant saturated fatty acid, was positively associated in univariate analyse s with plasminogen, which explained 5.2% of its variance among men (P< .0001) and 5.8% among women (P<.0001). Linoleic acid, which is the mos t abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid, was negatively associated with plasminogen and fibrinogen. This explained 1.1% of the variance in fib rinogen among men (P=.04) and 3.2% among women (P=.0006) and 4.1% of t he variance in plasminogen in both sexes (P<.0001). Dihomogammalinolen ic acid was positively associated with FVII:Ag and explained 3.7% of i ts variance among men (P=.0003) and 4.6% among women (P<.0001). Furthe rmore, dihomogammalinolenic acid was positively and significantly asso ciated with FVII:C, fibrinogen, and plasminogen among women but not am ong men. All these associations remained significant after adjustment for multiple potential confounding factors such as age, smoking, serum lipids, and body mass index. In conclusion, our findings suggest that linoleic acid, palmitic acid, and dihomogammalinoleic acid are signif icant independent determinants of hemostatic profile. It is not clear, however, to what extent these results reflect the effects of fatty ac ids on coagulation and to what extent they reflect the activity of inf lammatory processes in the arteries.