Association between serum selenium level and the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in U.S. population

• Published in: Journal of trace elements in medicine and biology Vol. 52; pp. 83 - 88
• Main Authors: Moon, Shinje, Chung, Hye Soo, Yu, Jae Myung, Yoo, Hyung Joon, Park, Jung Hwan, Kim, Dong Sun, Park, Yoo-Kyung, Yoon, Sang Nam
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Elsevier GmbH 01.03.2019
• Subjects: Antioxidants; Body Mass Index; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus - blood; Diabetes Mellitus - epidemiology; Female; Humans; Logistic Models; Male; Middle Aged; Nutrition Surveys; Prevalence; Risk Factors; Selenium; Selenium - blood; Trace elements; United States - epidemiology; United States; Antioxidants; Trace elements; Selenium; Diabetes mellitus
• ISSN: 0946-672X; 1878-3252; 1878-3252
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jtemb.2018.12.005

Selenium seems to be a risk factor for diabetes mellitus (DM) in recent studies, opposite to the previous expectation that it may contribute to prevent DM. The authors aimed to ascertain the relationship between selenium and DM. Data were collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted from 2011 to 2014. A multivariate logistic regression analysis with adjustment for age, sex, race/ethnicity, hypertension, dyslipidemia and body mass index was conducted to evaluate the odds ratio for DM. The total number of subjects was 19,931. Large proportion of subjects were excluded due to young age (< 20 years) and missing data. The data of 3406 participants were analyzed, and a total of 604 had DM. In a multivariate logistic regression model, the increase of 10 μg/L in selenium increased the prevalence of DM by 12% (OR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.06–1.18). Further analysis with 1:1 propensity score matching data with age and sex showed a similar results (OR: 1.08; 95% CI: 1.01–1.15). In addition, the restricted cubic spline regression showed a dose-dependent relationship between selenium level and DM. Subgroup analysis showed a dose-dependent relationship between selenium level and DM regardless of sex or race/ethnicity This large population study clearly demonstrates a positive association between selenium level and DM. This finding could have implications for nutritional supplementation in clinical settings.