Dried Blood Spot Whole-Blood Fatty-Acid Profiles and Maximum Carotid Wall Thickness in Chinese Adults with Carotid Structural Involvement: A Dual-Route Compositional Cross-Sectional Study
- 1Department of Nutrition, First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
- 2Graduate School of The PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
- 3Department of Ultrasound, First Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Questionnaires regarding intake and routine lipid panels do not indicate fatty-acid composition. Dried blood spot (DBS) whole-blood profiling is a minimally invasive complement not yet linked to a vascular structural endpoint. We tested whether DBS composition tracks carotid wall burden in Chinese adults with metabolic-risk features and established carotid structural involvement using a prespecified panel and compositional analysis. Methods: Fasting DBS gas chromatography resolved 37 fatty acids in 230 adults (47.4% men) meeting a prespecified maximum carotid wall thickness (max-CWT) ≥ 1.0 mm eligibility criterion. A total of 16 prespecified measures were modelled against ln(max-CWT) with multivariable adjustment and Benjamini–Hochberg correction pooled across 16 tests; the 26-part composition was examined by isometric log-ratio (ILR) analysis. Results: Under pooled false-discovery-rate control, α-linolenic acid (ALA) and linoleic acid (LA) were inversely and oleic acid positively associated with max-CWT (per 1-SD β = −0.063, −0.068 and 0.080; all q < 0.05). The full composition was associated (F(25,196) = 2.26, p = 0.0011), whereas EPA and the AA/EPA ratio remained weaker, family-level signals. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first dual-route DBS compositional analysis linked to a structural vascular endpoint, and it identified a candidate nutritional–metabolic pattern—lower ALA and LA and higher oleic acid—linked to wall thickness in adults with established structural involvement. This pattern warrants prospective investigation and does not by itself support any dietary recommendation.
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BibTeX
@article{ma2026dried,
title = {{Dried Blood Spot Whole-Blood Fatty-Acid Profiles and Maximum Carotid Wall Thickness in Chinese Adults with Carotid Structural Involvement: A Dual-Route Compositional Cross-Sectional Study}},
author = {Yetong Ma and Mengke Zhang and Xin Qin and Xinsheng Zhang and Lu Liu and Yinghua Liu},
journal = {Nutrients},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/nu18213495},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/21/3495},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Dried Blood Spot Whole-Blood Fatty-Acid Profiles and Maximum Carotid Wall Thickness in Chinese Adults with Carotid Structural Involvement: A Dual-Route Compositional Cross-Sectional Study
AU - Yetong Ma
AU - Mengke Zhang
AU - Xin Qin
AU - Xinsheng Zhang
AU - Lu Liu
AU - Yinghua Liu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/24
JO - Nutrients
DO - 10.3390/nu18213495
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/21/3495
AB - Background/Objectives: Questionnaires regarding intake and routine lipid panels do not indicate fatty-acid composition. Dried blood spot (DBS) whole-blood profiling is a minimally invasive complement not yet linked to a vascular structural endpoint. We tested whether DBS composition tracks carotid wall burden in Chinese adults with metabolic-risk features and established carotid structural involvement using a prespecified panel and compositional analysis. Methods: Fasting DBS gas chromatography resolved 37 fatty acids in 230 adults (47.4% men) meeting a prespecified maximum carotid wall thickness (max-CWT) ≥ 1.0 mm eligibility criterion. A total of 16 prespecified measures were modelled against ln(max-CWT) with multivariable adjustment and Benjamini–Hochberg correction pooled across 16 tests; the 26-part composition was examined by isometric log-ratio (ILR) analysis. Results: Under pooled false-discovery-rate control, α-linolenic acid (ALA) and linoleic acid (LA) were inversely and oleic acid positively associated with max-CWT (per 1-SD β = −0.063, −0.068 and 0.080; all q < 0.05). The full composition was associated (F(25,196) = 2.26, p = 0.0011), whereas EPA and the AA/EPA ratio remained weaker, family-level signals. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first dual-route DBS compositional analysis linked to a structural vascular endpoint, and it identified a candidate nutritional–metabolic pattern—lower ALA and LA and higher oleic acid—linked to wall thickness in adults with established structural involvement. This pattern warrants prospective investigation and does not by itself support any dietary recommendation.
SN - 2072-6643
ER -