Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24453077›Full record

Trial reportNeurology2014

Higher RBC EPA + DHA corresponds with larger total brain and hippocampal volumes: WHIMS-MRI study.

James V Pottala, Kristine Yaffe, Jennifer G Robinson, Mark A Espeland, Robert Wallace, William S Harris

Open access · bronzeAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Neurology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 75 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
75citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
14.2field-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

75 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 163 citations in OpenAlex.

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15 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

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

James V PottalaFrom the Department of Internal Medicine (J.V.P., W.S.H.), Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls; Health Diagnostic Laboratory Inc. (J.V.P., W.S.H.), Richmond, VA; Department of Psychiatry (K.Y.), University of California Medical Center, San Francisco; Departments of Epidemiology and Internal Medicine (J.R., R.W.), University of Iowa College of Public Health, Iowa City; Department of Biostatistical Services (M.A.E.), Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC; and OmegaQuant Analytics (W.S.H.), Sioux Falls, SD.
Kristine Yaffe
Jennifer G Robinson
Mark A Espeland
Robert Wallace
William S Harris
Medical Diagnostic Laboratories (United States) · USUniversity of California San Francisco Medical Center · USWake Forest University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo test whether red blood cell (RBC) levels of marine omega-3 fatty acids measured in the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study were related to MRI brain volumes measured 8 years later.

methodsRBC eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and MRI brain volumes were assessed in 1,111 postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study. The endpoints were total brain volume and anatomical regions. Linear mixed models included multiple imputations of fatty acids and were adjusted for hormone therapy, time since randomization, demographics, intracranial volume, and cardiovascular disease risk factors.

resultsIn fully adjusted models, a 1 SD greater RBC EPA + DHA (omega-3 index) level was correlated with 2.1 cm(3) larger brain volume (p = 0.048). DHA was marginally correlated (p = 0.063) with total brain volume while EPA was less so (p = 0.11). There were no correlations between ischemic lesion volumes and EPA, DHA, or EPA + DHA. A 1 SD greater omega-3 index was correlated with greater hippocampal volume (50 mm(3), p = 0.036) in fully adjusted models. Comparing the fourth quartile vs the first quartile of the omega-3 index confirmed greater hippocampal volume (159 mm(3), p = 0.034).

conclusionA higher omega-3 index was correlated with larger total normal brain volume and hippocampal volume in postmenopausal women measured 8 years later. While normal aging results in overall brain atrophy, lower omega-3 index may signal increased risk of hippocampal atrophy. Future studies should examine whether maintaining higher RBC EPA + DHA levels slows the rate of hippocampal or overall brain atrophy.

Indexed as

AgedAged, 80 and overBrainCohort StudiesDocosahexaenoic AcidsEicosapentaenoic AcidErythrocytesFemaleHippocampusHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingOrgan SizePostmenopauseWomen's HealthDocosahexaenoic AcidsEicosapentaenoic Acid

Identifiers

PMID24453077
PMCPMC3917688
OpenAlexW2135884119

What Socratic 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 Socratic graph.