Background: A gut-microbial metabolite, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), has been associated with coronary atherosclerotic burden. No previous prospective study has addressed associations of long-term changes in TMAO with coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether 10-year changes in plasma TMAO levels were significantly associated with CHD incidence. Methods: This prospective nested case-control study included 760 healthy women at baseline. Plasma TMAO levels were measured both at the first (1989 to 1990) and the second (2000 to 2002) blood collections; 10-year changes (Δ) in TMAO were calculated. Incident cases of CHD (n = 380) were identified after the second blood collection through 2016 and were matched to controls (n = 380). Results: Regardless of the initial TMAO levels, 10-year increases in TMAO from the first to second blood collection were significantly associated with an increased risk of CHD (relative risk [RR] in the top tertile: 1.58 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05 to 2.38]; RR per 1-SD increment: 1.33 [95% CI: 1.06 to 1.67]). Participants with elevated TMAO levels (the top tertile) at both time points showed the highest RR of 1.79 (95% CI: 1.08 to 2.96) for CHD as compared with those with consistently low TMAO levels. Further, we found that the ΔTMAO-CHD relationship was strengthened by unhealthy dietary patterns (assessed by the Alternate Healthy Eating Index) and was attenuated by healthy dietary patterns (p interaction = 0.008). Conclusions: Long-term increases in TMAO were associated with higher CHD risk, and repeated assessment of TMAO over 10 years improved the identification of people with a higher risk of CHD. Diet may modify the associations of ΔTMAO with CHD risk.
CITATION STYLE
Heianza, Y., Ma, W., DiDonato, J. A., Sun, Q., Rimm, E. B., Hu, F. B., … Qi, L. (2020). Long-Term Changes in Gut Microbial Metabolite Trimethylamine N-Oxide and Coronary Heart Disease Risk. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 75(7), 763–772. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2019.11.060
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.