Association of Omega-3 Status With Long-Term Risk of Hospitalization for Sepsis

Objectives: Sepsis is a life-threatening condition characterized by a dysregulated host response to infection. Despite decades of clinical trials, there are no specific treatments; care of the nearly 50 million annual cases worldwide is limited to antimicrobials and supportive measures. A primary prevention strategy may therefore be of value. We hypothesized that higher premorbid omega-3 fatty acid levels would be associated with a reduced incidence of sepsis. Design: Population-based cohort study. SETTING: Retrospective data from the United Kingdom (U.K. Biobank). Patients: Two hundred seventy-three thousand three hundred twenty-five participants from the U.K. Biobank. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Our exposure was baseline estimated omega-3 index (eO3I), modeled both categorically in quartiles, and continuously with restricted cubic splines. Our outcome measure was hospital admission with an International Classification of Diseases , 10th Edition code consistent with sepsis. The median (interquartile range) baseline eO3I was 6.0% (4.8–7.3%). Over a mean follow-up period of 13 years, 9241 participants experienced hospitalization with sepsis. In our adjusted model, compared with the lowest eO3I quartile, participants had lower risks of sepsis incidence in the second quartile (hazard ratio [HR], 0.88; 95% CI, 0.86–0.91; p < 0.001), third quartile (HR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.78–0.83; p < 0.001), and fourth quartile (HR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.73–0.77; p < 0.001). When analyzed as a continuous variable, increasing eO3I was associated with a decreasing risk of sepsis ( p < 0.001). Conclusions: In this population-based cohort study, baseline eO3I was inversely associated with subsequent sepsis incidence. Given that omega-3 levels can be increased with dietary supplementation, primary prevention should be explored to mitigate the burden of sepsis.