Even-Chain UFA Pattern, n-3 Long-Chain PUFA Pattern and Risk of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Southeast of China

Objective: To characterize and examine associations between dietary fatty acid intake patterns and the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).Methods: A total of 422 patients and 423 controls were recruited. Dietary fatty acids, as a percentage of total fat, were entered into a factor analysis. Multinomial logistic regression and restricted cubic spline were used to evaluate the risk of ESCC specific for different dietary fatty acid patterns (FAPs). A forest plot was applied to show the potential effect modification.Results: The factor analysis generated 4 major fatty acid patterns: a long-chain SFA (LC-SFA) pattern; an even-chain unsaturated fatty acid (EC-UFA) pattern; a short and medium-chain SFA (SMC-SFA) pattern, and an n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 LC-PUFA) pattern. In the multivariate-adjusted model, the odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) of ESCC were 2.069(1.314,3.257), and 0.525 (0.340–0.811) for the highest versus the lowest tertile of EC-UFA pattern and n-3 LC-PUFA pattern, respectively. The LC-SFA, SMC-SFA patterns were not associated with ESCC. There existed a nonlinear positive association between the EC-UFA pattern and the risk of ESCC (p for nonlinearity <0.05), nevertheless, there was a nonlinear negative association between the n-3 LC-PUFA pattern and the risk of ESCC (p for nonlinearity <0.001). Multiplicative interaction between fried food, pickled food, hard food, tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, and four FAPs was also observed.Conclusions: Our study indicates that EC-UFA pattern, n-3 LC-PUFA pattern intake are associated with ESCC, which might provide a potential dietary intervention for ESCC prevention.