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Hair Selenium of Residents in Keshan Disease Endemic and Non-endemic Regions in China

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Abstract

Few nationwide investigations on hair selenium (Se) and Keshan disease (KD) have been conducted. KD is closely associated with Se deficiency. Hair Se is an important biomarker for selenium nutrition. This research aimed to provide evidence for assessment of KD prevention, control, and elimination at the molecular level from the etiological perspective of selenium nutrition. The hair Se of the residents living in the KD endemic and non-endemic areas were determined through atomic fluorescence spectrometer. The median of the hair Se levels of the inhabitants living in KD endemic counties was significantly lower than that in KD non-endemic counties (0.34 vs 0.39 mg/kg, U = −10.03, P < 0.0001). The proportion of Se-deficient or Se-marginal residents in KD endemic counties was significantly higher than that in KD non-endemic counties (56.9% vs 36.6%, U = −9.57, P < 0.0001). The medians of the hair Se levels in KD endemic provinces of Shannxi, Heilongjiang, and Gansu were the lowest (0.35mg/kg), and in the category of Se-marginal status. The hair Se level featured a positive Spearman correlation with per capita disposable income (rs = 0.20, P < 0.0001). In conclusion, the median of the hair Se contents of residents living in KD endemic counties was significantly lower than that in KD non-endemic counties. The hair Se contents of nearly 57% of inhabitants living in KD endemic regions were in Se-deficient or Se-marginal status. The KD endemic provinces of Shannxi, Heilongjiang, and Gansu should be given high priority in KD prevention and control.

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Data Availability

Data are available from the corresponding author (Email: wangtong@ems.hrbmu.edu.cn) on a reasonable request.

Code Availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to all the 3028 individuals who voluntarily participated in the study.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 82073492, 81773368, 81202154, and 81172607).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Keshan Disease, Chinese Center for Endemic Disease Control, Harbin Medical University, 157 Baojian Road, Harbin, 150081, China

    Yuehui Jia, Ruixiang Wang, Guijin Li, Chen Feng, Lei Qi, Yuanyuan Wang, Shengqi Su, Yuanjie Zou, Xu Liu, Yanan Wang, Yiyi Zhang, Linlin Du, Huixin Sun, Shuxiu Hao, Jie Hou, Hongqi Feng & Tong Wang

  2. School of Public Health, Qiqihar Medical University, Qiqihar, 161000, China

    Yuehui Jia

  3. Ningbo Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Ningbo, 315010, China

    Yuanjie Zou

  4. Yidu Central Hospital of Weifang, Weifang, 262500, China

    Xu Liu

  5. School of Public Health and Management, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai, 264003, China

    Yanan Wang

  6. Yantai Disease Prevention and Control Center, Yantai, 264003, China

    Yiyi Zhang

  7. The Third Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, No. 150 Haping Road, Harbin, 150081, China

    Qi Li

Authors
  1. Yuehui Jia
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Contributions

YJ, QL, and TW: formal analysis; methodology; visualization; writing—original draft; writing—review and editing. YJ, RW, GL, CF, LQ, YuW, SS, YZo, XL, YZh, LD, HS, SH: data curation, investigation, software, validation. JH, HF: supervision. QL and TW: conceptualization, funding acquisition, project administration, supervision. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Qi Li or Tong Wang.

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This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Harbin Medical University (HMUECDC 20180301).

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Written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Jia, Y., Wang, R., Li, G. et al. Hair Selenium of Residents in Keshan Disease Endemic and Non-endemic Regions in China. Biol Trace Elem Res 201, 3256–3267 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-022-03444-8

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