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Serum Essential Trace Element Status in Women and the Risk of Endometrial Diseases: a Case–Control Study

Serum Essential Trace Element Status in Women and the Risk of Endometrial Diseases: a Case–Control Study

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Abstract

Endometrial diseases, including uterine fibroids, polyps, intrauterine adhesion, endometritis, etc., are the major causes of infertility among women. However, the association between essential trace element status in women and the risk of endometrial disease is limited and unclear. This study aimed to investigate this association using a case–control study design; a total of 302 women patients with endometrial diseases and 302 healthy women were included. Compared to women in the control group, serum selenium (Se) (p = 0.024) and zinc (Zn) (p = 0.017) levels were significantly lower, while copper (Cu) (p = 0.004) and molybdenum (Mo) (p = 0.005) levels were significantly higher among women with endometrial diseases. In addition, compared to women in the first quartile of the copper/zinc (Cu/Zn) ratio value group, the adjusted ORs (95% CIs) of endometrial diseases were 1.50 (1.05, 2.14), 1.68 (1.18, 2.39), and 1.47 (1.02, 2.10), respectively, in the second, third, and fourth quartile of the Cu/Zn ratio value group (p trend = 0.047). In addition, the results from restricted cubic splines showed that the dose–response relationships of serum levels of these essential elements with the risk of endometrial diseases were nonlinear for Se, Cu, and Zn and relatively linear for Mo and Cu/Zn ratio. The present study showed serum levels of Zn and Se among women with endometrial diseases were significantly lower compared to that among healthy women, while serum levels of Cu and Mo were significantly higher, in addition, the serum Cu/Zn ratio value was also significantly and positively associated with the risk of endometrial diseases.

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Data Availability

The data underlying this article will be shared upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the medical staff in the First Afflicted Hospital of Anhui Medical University in Anhui, China, for recruiting subjects and collecting specimens. The authors are grateful to the Scientific Research Center in Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University for the technical support in our experiment.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC-U20A20350, NSFC-82173532, NSFC-81971455, NSFC-81871216, and NSFC-81601345), Postdoctoral Research Foundation of China (2021M700181), Excellent Young Talents Fund Program of Higher Education Institutions of Anhui Province (gxyq2021173), and the Provincial Natural Science Foundation of Anhui (1908085MH244).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Anhui Medical University, No. 218 Jixi Road, Hefei, 230022, Anhui, China

    Danyang Li, Xin Wang, Tao Yin, Lingchao Shen, Zhikang Zhang, Weiwei Zou, Yajing Liu, Dan Liang, Yunxia Cao, Xiaofeng Xu, Chunmei Liang & Dongmei Ji

  2. NHC Key Laboratory of Study On Abnormal Gametes and Reproductive Tract (Anhui Medical University), No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China

    Danyang Li, Xin Wang, Tao Yin, Lingchao Shen, Zhikang Zhang, Weiwei Zou, Yajing Liu, Dan Liang, Yunxia Cao, Xiaofeng Xu, Chunmei Liang & Dongmei Ji

  3. Key Laboratory of Population Health Across Life Cycle (Anhui Medical University), Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China

    Danyang Li, Xin Wang, Tao Yin, Lingchao Shen, Zhikang Zhang, Weiwei Zou, Yajing Liu, Dan Liang, Yunxia Cao, Xiaofeng Xu, Chunmei Liang & Dongmei Ji

  4. Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Reproductive Health and Genetics, No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China

    Danyang Li, Xin Wang, Tao Yin, Lingchao Shen, Zhikang Zhang, Weiwei Zou, Yajing Liu, Dan Liang, Yunxia Cao, Xiaofeng Xu, Chunmei Liang & Dongmei Ji

  5. Anhui Provincial Engineering Research Center of Biopreservation and Artificial Organs, No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China

    Danyang Li, Xin Wang, Tao Yin, Lingchao Shen, Zhikang Zhang, Weiwei Zou, Yajing Liu, Dan Liang, Yunxia Cao, Xiaofeng Xu, Chunmei Liang & Dongmei Ji

  6. Anhui Provincial Institute of Translational Medicine, No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China

    Danyang Li, Xin Wang, Tao Yin, Lingchao Shen, Zhikang Zhang, Weiwei Zou, Yajing Liu, Dan Liang, Yunxia Cao, Xiaofeng Xu, Chunmei Liang & Dongmei Ji

  7. School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China

    Tingting Jiang & Chunmei Liang

  8. Technical Center of Hefei Customs District, No. 329 Tunxi Road, Hefei, 230022, Anhui, China

    Kai Zong

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  1. Danyang Li
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  2. Tingting Jiang
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  3. Xin Wang
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  4. Tao Yin
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  5. Lingchao Shen
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  10. Dan Liang
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  11. Yunxia Cao
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  12. Xiaofeng Xu
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  13. Chunmei Liang
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Contributions

D.M.J. and X.F.X. designed the experiments. D.Y.L., T.T.J., and X.W. experimented and wrote the manuscript. Z.K.Z. and L.C.S. analyzed the statistical data. T.Y. collected samples. W.W.Z. and K.Z. collated patients’ data. Y.J.L. and D.L. reviewed the data statistics. Y.X.C. and C.M.L. revised the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xiaofeng Xu, Chunmei Liang or Dongmei Ji.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics Approval

This study was approved by the Biomedical Ethics Committee of Anhui Medical University (20160270).

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All participants signed an informed consent form for the use of the samples.

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The authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for publication.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Danyang Li, Tingting Jiang, and Xin Wang are the equal first authors.

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Li, D., Jiang, T., Wang, X. et al. Serum Essential Trace Element Status in Women and the Risk of Endometrial Diseases: a Case–Control Study. Biol Trace Elem Res 201, 2151–2161 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-022-03328-x

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