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Low serum selenium is associated with anemia among older adults in the United States

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 63, pages 93–99 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

We hypothesized that low serum selenium was associated with anemia in humans.

Subjects:

A total of 2092 adults aged 65 and older, in the third National Nutrition Examination Survey, Phase 2 (1991–1994) (NHANES III).

Methods:

Examination of the relationship between serum selenium and hematological indices in NHANES III.

Results:

Anemia, defined by World Health Organization criteria, was present in 12.9%. Mean serum selenium among non-anemic and anemic adults was 1.60 and 1.51 μmol l−1 (P=0.0003). The prevalence of anemia among adults in the lowest to highest quartiles of serum selenium was 18.3, 9.5, 9.7 and 6.9%, respectively (P=0.0005). The proportion of adults in the lowest quartile of selenium among those who were non-anemic or who had anemia due to nutritional causes, chronic inflammation, renal disease or unexplained anemia was 9.9, 27.5, 17.5, 24.0 and 15.4%, respectively. An increase in loge selenium was associated with a reduced risk of anemia (odds ratio per one standard deviation increase 0.75, 95% confidence interval 0.58–0.97, P=0.03), adjusting for age, race, education, body mass index and chronic diseases.

Conclusion:

Low serum selenium is independently associated with anemia among older men and women in the United States.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA

    R D Semba, M O Ricks, Q-L Xue & L P Fried

  2. Longitudinal Studies Section, Clinical Research Branch, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD, USA

    L Ferrucci

  3. Laboratory of Epidemiology, Demography, and Biometry, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, MD, USA

    J M Guralnik

Authors
  1. R D Semba
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  2. M O Ricks
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  3. L Ferrucci
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  4. Q-L Xue
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  5. J M Guralnik
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  6. L P Fried
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to R D Semba.

Additional information

This study was sponsored by National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health (R01 AG027012, R01 AG029148 and Intramural Research Branch).

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Semba, R., Ricks, M., Ferrucci, L. et al. Low serum selenium is associated with anemia among older adults in the United States. Eur J Clin Nutr 63, 93–99 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602889

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602889

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