Abstract
Some studies have shown that an imbalance in trace element homeostasis can lead to cognitive dysfunction, but data are lacking. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between whole blood zinc (Zn), selenium (Se), copper-zinc ratio (Cu/Zn), copper-selenium ratio (Cu/Se), and zinc-selenium ratio (Zn/Se) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in elderly Chinese individuals. The study was based on the Elderly Health and Controlled Environmental Factors Cohort in Lu’an, Anhui Province, China, from June to September 2016. The cognitive function of the elderly was determined by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and activities of daily living (ADL) scales. The concentrations of Zn, Cu, and Se in the whole blood were measured by inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Binary logistic regression was used to analyze the associations between trace elements and MCI. A total of 1006 participants with an average age of 71.70 years old were included in this study. Compared with healthy people, MCI patients had higher whole blood Zn levels and lower Se levels, and Cu/Zn, Cu/Se, and Zn/Se were also significantly different. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that Zn, Cu/Se, and Zn/Se exposure in the third tertile was associated with an increased risk of MCI, while Se exposure in the third tertile was associated with a reduced risk of MCI. After adjustment for sex, age, marital status, BMI, and living status, whole blood Zn, Se, Cu/Zn, Cu/Se, and Zn/Se were significantly associated with MCI risk, especially in elderly women.
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Acknowledgements
We thank all participants of this study. Special thanks to the following people for their contributions to this paper, who were key members of the cohort study and participated in the survey: School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University: Nannan Yu, Linsheng Yang, Kaiyong Liu, Xiude Li; School of Health Management, Anhui Medical University: Guimei Chen, Dongmei Zhang, Ying Ma, Li Wang; School of Nursing, Anhui Medical University: Annuo Liu; Anhui Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Yong Fan; Lu’an Center of Disease Control and Prevention: Hongjuan Cao, Kaichun Li.
Funding
Grants for Major Projects on College Leading Talent Team Introduced of Anhui (0303011224) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (81872662).
The study was approved by the Biomedical Ethics Committee of Anhui Medical University. All participants provided written informed consent.
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Jinhui Yu and Yu He contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors
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Yu, J., He, Y., Yu, X. et al. Associations Between Mild Cognitive Impairment and Whole Blood Zinc and Selenium in the Elderly Cohort. Biol Trace Elem Res 201, 51–64 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-022-03136-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-022-03136-3