Prenatal maternal selenium plasma concentration and motor development in early infancy

Se is an important micronutrient that plays a key role in brain development. Only a few studies have explored the associations between prenatal maternal Se concentration and motor development in early infancy. We have previously described that 36 % of pregnant Nepalese women had Se concentration below the cut-off of 71·1 µg/l in early pregnancy. In the current cohort study, we aimed to describe the association between maternal plasma Se concentration and infant motor development measured at 8–12 weeks of age. From a cohort of 800 Nepalese mother–infant pairs, we included 711 dyads with available data on maternal Se concentration and motor development scores. Maternal Se concentration was measured in plasma samples collected within 15 weeks of gestation using inductively coupled plasma MS. Motor development was measured by the Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP). We examined the association between Se concentration and the TIMP scores in regression models adjusted for age of the mother and socioeconomic status. There was no association between maternal Se concentration and the TIMP scores (coefficient for the total TIMP score: −0·035 (95 % CI: −0·105, 0·036). In conclusion, even though a considerable proportion of the women had Se concentration below the cut-off of 71·1 µg/l, there was no association between maternal Se concentration and early motor development in their infants. Our findings do not support Se supplementation during pregnancy to enhance early infant motor development. However, Se may still be essential for other aspects of maternal and infant health.