Correlation between serum selenium level and degree of liver cirrhosis in Enshi, Hubei Province, China

Objective To investigate the serum selenium level in patients with cirrhosis in Enshi, Hubei Province, China. Methods A total of 90 patients with cirrhosis who were treated in The Central Hospital of Enshi Autonomous Prefecture from January 2016 to June 2017 were enrolled as liver cirrhosis group and further divided into Child-Pugh class A, B, and C subgroups; 60 healthy volunteers who underwent physical examination were enrolled as control group. Serum selenium level and hepatic fibrosis indices were measured. The t-test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups; a one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of continuous data between multiple groups, and the SNK-q test was used for further comparison between two groups. The Spearman correlation test was used to investigate the correlation between serum selenium level and degree of liver cirrhosis. Results Compared with the control group, the liver cirrhosis group had a significant reduction in serum selenium level and significant increases in hyaluronic acid ( HA) , procollagen type Ⅲ ( PCⅢ) , type Ⅳ collagen ( Ⅳ-C) , and laminin ( LN) ( t = 7. 246, 9. 759, 4. 790, 8. 671, and 5. 908, all P < 0. 05) . There was a progressive reduction in serum selenium level and progressive increases in HA, PCⅢ, Ⅳ-C, and LN with increasing Child-Pugh class ( F =13. 524, 53. 903, 21. 490, 52. 495, and 19. 530, all P < 0. 05) . Serum selenium is negatively correlated with HA, PCⅢ, Ⅳ-C, LN, and Child-Pugh class ( r =-0. 361, -0. 519, -0. 448, -0. 354, and-0. 602, all P < 0. 05) . Conclusion Patients with cirrhosis have a significantly lower serum selenium level than the normal population in Enshi, but further clinical studies are needed to determine whether selenium supplementation can improve the prognosis of cirrhosis.