Saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids and P/S ratio in adipose tissue in relation to occupational class and education in the study of men born in 1933

Background and aim: We examined the effect of socioeconomic factors on fatty acid pattern in adipose tissue as a possible contributory explanatory factor in the inverse association between socioeconomic status and risk of coronary, heart disease (CHD) found in Sweden and other countries. Methods and Results: Adipose tissue samples and data on occupational class and education were collected in 437 Swedish men aged 59 front a random population sample of 879 men (50%). The percentage saturated fat in adipose tissue increased slightly but significantly with higher occupational class and with higher educational level (p=0.002 for both), chiefly due to an increase in palmitic acid but also in myristic acid. No significant association was seen between occupational class and linoleic acid (p=0.12), but men with higher education had less linoleic acid in adipose tissue (p=0.04). The relative amount of alpha-linolenic acid decreased with higher occupational class (p=0.01) and with higher education (p=0.02). P/S ratio was slightly lower among higher officials and professionals than among unskilled workers (p=0.05) and also decreased with increasing educational level (p=0.01). Educational level remained positively related (p=0.0007) to palmitic acid in a multiple regression model which controlled for waist-to-hip ratio, hypertension, diabetes, history of myocardial infarction, and alcohol consumption. Both linoleic, and alpha-linolenic acid were independently negatively associated with education, after controlling for waist-to-hip ratio, alcohol consumption, and non-Scandinavian origin. Results were similar if occupational class was entered into the analyses instead of educational level. Conclusions: In this subsample of Swedish men high occupational class and high educational level were associated with an unfavorable fatty acid pattern. These results do not indicate that differences in fat consumption and/or metabolism contribute to the large socioeconomic differences in incidence of CHD found in previous studies. (C) 1996, Medikal Press.