Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37344230›Full record

ArticleNeurology2023

Association of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Clinical Progression in Patients With ALS: Post Hoc Analysis of the EMPOWER Trial.

Kjetil Bjornevik, Marianna Cortese, Jeremy D Furtado, Sabrina Paganoni, Michael A Schwarzschild, Merit E Cudkowicz, Alberto Ascherio

Open access · greenAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Neurology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
16citing papers in PubMed
5.1field-weighted citation impact, top 4% 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

16 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. Gut microbes · 2026
    Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Review
  7. Article
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  9. Sacha Inchi (Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
    Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Review
  14. Gut Symptoms, Gut Dysbiosis and Gut-Derived Toxins in ALS.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024
    Review
  15. Fatty acids might slow ALS progression.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2023
    Article
  16. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Kjetil BjornevikFrom the Department of Nutrition (K.B., M.C., J.D.F., A.A.), and Department of Epidemiology (K.B., A.A.), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston; Epidemiology (J.D.F.), Biogen, Cambridge; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (S.P.), Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Healey Center for ALS, Massachusetts General Hospital; Harvard Medical School (S.P., M.A.S.); Department of Neurology (M.A.S.), Massachusetts General Hospital; Sean M Healey & AMG Center for ALS (M.E.C.), Mass General Hospital, Harvard Medical School; and Channing Division of Network Medicine (A.A.), Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. kbjorne@hsph.harvard.edu.
Marianna CorteseFrom the Department of Nutrition (K.B., M.C., J.D.F., A.A.), and Department of Epidemiology (K.B., A.A.), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston; Epidemiology (J.D.F.), Biogen, Cambridge; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (S.P.), Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Healey Center for ALS, Massachusetts General Hospital; Harvard Medical School (S.P., M.A.S.); Department of Neurology (M.A.S.), Massachusetts General Hospital; Sean M Healey & AMG Center for ALS (M.E.C.), Mass General Hospital, Harvard Medical School; and Channing Division of Network Medicine (A.A.), Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Jeremy D FurtadoFrom the Department of Nutrition (K.B., M.C., J.D.F., A.A.), and Department of Epidemiology (K.B., A.A.), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston; Epidemiology (J.D.F.), Biogen, Cambridge; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (S.P.), Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Healey Center for ALS, Massachusetts General Hospital; Harvard Medical School (S.P., M.A.S.); Department of Neurology (M.A.S.), Massachusetts General Hospital; Sean M Healey & AMG Center for ALS (M.E.C.), Mass General Hospital, Harvard Medical School; and Channing Division of Network Medicine (A.A.), Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Sabrina PaganoniFrom the Department of Nutrition (K.B., M.C., J.D.F., A.A.), and Department of Epidemiology (K.B., A.A.), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston; Epidemiology (J.D.F.), Biogen, Cambridge; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (S.P.), Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Healey Center for ALS, Massachusetts General Hospital; Harvard Medical School (S.P., M.A.S.); Department of Neurology (M.A.S.), Massachusetts General Hospital; Sean M Healey & AMG Center for ALS (M.E.C.), Mass General Hospital, Harvard Medical School; and Channing Division of Network Medicine (A.A.), Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Michael A SchwarzschildFrom the Department of Nutrition (K.B., M.C., J.D.F., A.A.), and Department of Epidemiology (K.B., A.A.), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston; Epidemiology (J.D.F.), Biogen, Cambridge; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (S.P.), Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Healey Center for ALS, Massachusetts General Hospital; Harvard Medical School (S.P., M.A.S.); Department of Neurology (M.A.S.), Massachusetts General Hospital; Sean M Healey & AMG Center for ALS (M.E.C.), Mass General Hospital, Harvard Medical School; and Channing Division of Network Medicine (A.A.), Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Merit E CudkowiczFrom the Department of Nutrition (K.B., M.C., J.D.F., A.A.), and Department of Epidemiology (K.B., A.A.), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston; Epidemiology (J.D.F.), Biogen, Cambridge; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (S.P.), Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Healey Center for ALS, Massachusetts General Hospital; Harvard Medical School (S.P., M.A.S.); Department of Neurology (M.A.S.), Massachusetts General Hospital; Sean M Healey & AMG Center for ALS (M.E.C.), Mass General Hospital, Harvard Medical School; and Channing Division of Network Medicine (A.A.), Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Alberto AscherioFrom the Department of Nutrition (K.B., M.C., J.D.F., A.A.), and Department of Epidemiology (K.B., A.A.), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston; Epidemiology (J.D.F.), Biogen, Cambridge; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (S.P.), Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Healey Center for ALS, Massachusetts General Hospital; Harvard Medical School (S.P., M.A.S.); Department of Neurology (M.A.S.), Massachusetts General Hospital; Sean M Healey & AMG Center for ALS (M.E.C.), Mass General Hospital, Harvard Medical School; and Channing Division of Network Medicine (A.A.), Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Harvard University · USMassachusetts General Hospital · USSpaulding Rehabilitation Hospital · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

objectivesPolyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects and could be beneficial in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Higher dietary intake and plasma levels of PUFAs, in particular alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), have been associated with a lower risk of ALS in large epidemiologic cohort studies, but data on disease progression in patients with ALS are sparse. We examined whether plasma levels of ALA and other PUFAs contributed to predicting survival time and functional decline in patients with ALS.

methodsWe conducted a study among participants in the EMPOWER clinical trial who had plasma samples collected at the time of randomization that were available for fatty acid analyses. Plasma fatty acids were measured using gas chromatography. We used Cox proportional hazards models and linear regression to evaluate the association of individual fatty acids with risk of death and joint rank test score of functional decline and survival.

resultsFatty acid analyses were conducted in 449 participants. The mean (SD) age of these participants at baseline was 57.5 (10.7) years, and 293 (65.3%) were men; 126 (28.1%) died during follow-up. Higher ALA levels were associated with lower risk of death (age-adjusted and sex-adjusted hazard ratio comparing highest vs lowest quartile 0.50, 95% CI 0.29-0.86, DISCUSSION: Higher levels of ALA were associated with longer survival and slower functional decline in patients with ALS. These results suggest that ALA may have a favorable effect on disease progression in patients with ALS.

Indexed as

Amyotrophic Lateral SclerosisFatty Acids, Omega-3Disease ProgressionFatty AcidsFatty Acids, Omega-6Fatty Acids, UnsaturatedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedFatty AcidsFatty Acids, Omega-3Fatty Acids, Omega-6Fatty Acids, Unsaturated

Identifiers

PMID37344230
PMCPMC10437021
OpenAlexW4381480772

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.