Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23076616›Full record

SynthesisThe American journal of clinical nutrition2012

α-Linolenic acid and risk of cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

An Pan, Mu Chen, Rajiv Chowdhury, Jason H Y Wu, Qi Sun, Hannia Campos, Dariush Mozaffarian, Frank B Hu

Open access · bronzeAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in The American journal of clinical nutrition, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 117 papers, 16 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
117citing papers in PubMed, 16 pooled it
17.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

117 citing papers in PubMed, 16 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 337 citations in OpenAlex.

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57 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

An PanDepartment of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ephanp@nus.edu.sg
Mu Chen
Rajiv Chowdhury
Jason H Y Wu
Qi Sun
Hannia Campos
Dariush Mozaffarian
Frank B Hu
Harvard University · US

Funding

RISK FACTORS FOR CVD IN WOMENR01HL034594 · NHLBI · TULANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA · PI JoAnn Elisabeth Manson, Lu Qi · 1985 to 2026
$13.8M
Risk Factors for Ischemic Stroke in WomenR01HL088521 · NHLBI · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · PI REXRODE, KATHRYN M · 2008 to 2025
$9.9M
Novel Adipokines and Coronary Heart Disease in U.S. Men and Women with DiabetesR00HL098459 · NHLBI · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · PI SUN, QI · 2012 to 2014
$729k
Novel Adipokines and Coronary Heart Disease in U.S. Men and Women with DiabetesK99HL098459 · NHLBI · HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH · PI SUN, QI · 2010 to 2011
$189k
British Heart Foundation RG/08/014/24067NHLBI NIH HHS HL034594NHLBI NIH HHS HL088521NHLBI NIH HHS K99 HL098459NHLBI NIH HHS K99HL098459NHLBI NIH HHS R00 HL098459NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL034594NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL088521
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPrior studies of α-linolenic acid (ALA), a plant-derived omega-3 (n-3) fatty acid, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk have generated inconsistent results.

objectiveWe conducted a meta-analysis to summarize the evidence regarding the relation of ALA and CVD risk.

designWe searched multiple electronic databases through January 2012 for studies that reported the association between ALA (assessed as dietary intake or as a biomarker in blood or adipose tissue) and CVD risk in prospective and retrospective studies. We pooled the multivariate-adjusted RRs comparing the top with the bottom tertile of ALA using random-effects meta-analysis, which allowed for between-study heterogeneity.

resultsTwenty-seven original studies were identified, including 251,049 individuals and 15,327 CVD events. The overall pooled RR was 0.86 (95% CI: 0.77, 0.97; I² = 71.3%). The association was significant in 13 comparisons that used dietary ALA as the exposure (pooled RR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.81, 0.99; I² = 49.0%), with similar but nonsignificant trends in 17 comparisons in which ALA biomarkers were used as the exposure (pooled RR: 0.80; 95% CI: 0.63, 1.03; I² = 79.8%). An evaluation of mean participant age, study design (prospective compared with retrospective), exposure assessment (self-reported diet compared with biomarker), and outcome [fatal coronary heart disease (CHD), nonfatal CHD, total CHD, or stroke] showed that none were statistically significant sources of heterogeneity.

conclusionsIn observational studies, higher ALA exposure is associated with a moderately lower risk of CVD. The results were generally consistent for dietary and biomarker studies but were not statistically significant for biomarker studies. However, the high unexplained heterogeneity highlights the need for additional well-designed observational studies and large randomized clinical trials to evaluate the effects of ALA on CVD.

Indexed as

Dietalpha-Linolenic AcidBiomarkersCardiovascular DiseasesHumansReproducibility of ResultsRiskalpha-Linolenic AcidBiomarkers

Identifiers

PMID23076616
PMCPMC3497923
OpenAlexW2112093807

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.