Relationship between Arteriosclerosis Obliterans and the Ratio of Serum Eicosapentaenoic Acid to Arachidonic Acid

Purpose: A low ratio of serum eicosapentaenoic acid to arachidonic acid (EPA/AA) has been associated with coronary artery disease. We retrospectively examined serum concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids in patients with arteriosclerosis obliterans (ASO) and in non-atherosclerotic patients. Methods: From April 2011 to March 2012, serum EPA/AA was retrospectively examined in 33 consecutive outpatients with ASO complicated by intermittent claudication and 21 outpatients with hypercholesterolemia without ASO as controls. The Student's t-test was used for continuous variables and Chi-square test for categorical variables, with analysis of covariance adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, smoking, alcohol, and diabetes. Results: The ASO group were significantly different with regard to mean age (71.5 vs. 63.9 year-old, p = 0.03), body mass index (21.3 vs. 24.1 kg/m2, p = 0.002) and morbidity of diabetes mellitus (51.5 vs. 4.8%, p = 0.0004). Serum EPA/AA was significantly decreased in ASO (0.36 vs. 0.61, p = 0.03), when adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, smoking status and alcohol drinking, but was not statistically significant when adjusted for diabetes. Conclusion: Patients with ASO were more likely to have a low EPA/AA ratio and non- diabetic patients with ASO had a significantly reduced EPA/AA.