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Association of reduced selenium status in the aetiology of recurrent miscarriage
A E Nicoll1, J Norman, A Macpherson
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Glasgow, UK.
Objective:
To determine whether recurrent miscarriage is associated with reduced selenium status.
Design:
Case-control study.
Setting:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Glasgow Royal Maternity Hospital.
Population:
Twenty nonpregnant women with a history of unexplained recurrent miscarriage, and 47 nonpregnant parous women with a history of at least one successful pregnancy and no more than one miscarriage.
Methods:
A 7 mL blood sample from each woman was collected into lithium heparin 'vacutainer' tubes. Samples were centrifuged at 3000 g for 15 minutes, and plasma was extracted and stored at -20 degrees C. Selenium concentrations were measured using a fluorescence spectrophotometer. The selenium concentrations in the two groups were compared and the differences examined using the Student's t test.
Main Outcome Measures:
Plasma selenium concentration (microg/L).
Results:
The mean selenium concentration for women with a history of unexplained recurrent miscarriage was 67.7 microg/L (SD 16.4). The selenium level for the women with no history of recurrent miscarriage was 70.3 microg/L (SD 12.7). There was no difference in selenium concentrations between the two groups (P = 0.53).
Conclusions:
In this study there is no association between unexplained recurrent miscarriage and reduced selenium status, implying that reduced selenium status is not a factor in the pathogenesis of recurrent miscarriage. We can find no rationale for a trial of selenium therapy in women with a history of recurrent miscarriage.