Selenium Concentration in Korean Patients with Thyroid Disease: a Preliminary Report

Ju Young Jang; Yoon Young Cho; Tae Hyuk Kim; Sun Wook Kim; Jae Hoon Chung

doi:10.11106/ijt.2016.9.2.152

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Jang, Cho, Kim, Kim, and Chung: Selenium Concentration in Korean Patients with Thyroid Disease: a Preliminary Report

Original Article

Int J Thyroidol 2016;9(2):152-158.

Published online: 20 November 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.11106/ijt.2016.9.2.152

Selenium Concentration in Korean Patients with Thyroid Disease: a Preliminary Report

Ju Young Jang, Yoon Young Cho, Tae Hyuk Kim, Sun Wook Kim, Jae Hoon Chung

Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Thyroid Center, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence: Jae Hoon Chung, MD, PhD, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Thyroid Center, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 81 Irwon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06351, Korea Tel: 82-2-3410-3434, Fax: 82-2-3410-3849, E-mail: jaeh.chung@samsung.com

Received 26 May 2016 Revised 12 September 2016 Accepted 4 October 2016

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Background and Objectives

Selenium is an important trace element for thyroid hormone metabolism, and its deficiency can cause hypothyroidism. Serum selenium concentration is the best biomarker to reflect selenium intake and reserve, although other markers can reflect. Therefore, we preliminarily assessed serum and urine selenium concentrations in patients with thyroid disease compared to those of a healthy population. We also investigated the correlation between serum and urine selenium concentration, thyroid hormone and urinary iodine concentration (UIC).

Materials and Methods

A total of 97 patients (32 men, 65 women, 52.4±14.7 years) with benign thyroid nodules or thyroid dysfunction who visited the Samsung Medical Center between 2008 and 2013 were included. Data for 175 healthy subjects provided by Lee et al. were used as the control. Serum T3, free T4, and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) were measured using commercialized RIA or IRMA kits. Serum/urine selenium and UIC were measured by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).

Results

Median serum selenium concentration was 110 μ g/L (95% CI, 73–156). Median urine selenium concentration was 66.3 μ g/gCr (95% CI, 28.7–283.5). Compared to 175 healthy subjects (serum 84 μ g/L [95% CI, 30–144], urine 34.5 μ g/gCr [95% CI, 0.8–107.2]), serum and urine selenium concentrations of patients with thyroid disease were significantly higher than those of healthy subjects (p＜0.001). Serum selenium concentration was significantly correlated with urine selenium concentration after log transformation (r=0.88, p=0.022), but was not significantly correlated with UIC, T3, free T4 and TSH.

Conclusion

Selenium concentrations of patients with thyroid disease were significantly higher than those of healthy subjects. Serum selenium concentration was significantly correlated with urine selenium concentration.

Keywords: Serum selenium, Urine selenium

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Fig. 1.

Comparison of serum and urine selenium concen-trations of patients with thyroid disease to those of healthy subjects.

Fig. 2.

Comparison of serum selenium concentrations of patients with various thyroid diseases to those of healthy subjects. Hyperthyroidism vs. controls; hypothyroidism vs. controls; nodule vs. controls, p＜0.001.

Fig. 3.

Comparison of urine selenium concentrations of patients with various thyroid diseases to those of healthy subjects. Hyperthyroidism vs. controls; hypothyroidism vs. controls; nodule vs. controls, p＜0.001.

Fig. 4.

Relationship between serum selenium and urine selenium after log transformation.

Table 1.

Clinical characteristics of 97 patients with thyroid disease

	All	Men	Women	p value
Number	97	32	65
Age (years)	52.4±14.7	52.6±17	52.3±13.6	NS
Selenium, serum (μ g/L)	110 (73–156)	113 (67–150)	109 (73–153)	NS
Selenium, urine (μ g/gCr)	66.3 (28.7–283.5)	59.7 (33.5–117)	68.0 (21.3–420.5)	NS
UIC (μ g/L)	713 (31–4061)	678 (53–4000)	847 (27–4000)	NS
T3 (nmol/L)	1.6 (0.9–3.0)	1.6 (0.8–2.5)	1.6 (1.0–3.4)	NS
Free T4 (pmol/L)	15 (1–34)	15 (5–24)	14 (0.9–43)	NS
TSH (mU/L)	4.48 (0.01–80.6)	3.27 (0.01–59)	4.53 (0.01–92.92)	NS
Anti-TPO Ab (U/mL)	30 (6–9, 600)	21 (1–5, 100)	31 (6–12, 291)	NS
Anti-Tg Ab (U/mL)	73 (18–8, 315)	58 (18–4, 100)	74 (22–6, 559)	NS
TRAb (mU/L)	0.1 (0.1–10.8)	0.1 (0.1–6.5)	0.1 (0.1–16.8)	NS

Data were expressed as median (95% confidence intervals) or mean±SD

Ab: antibody, NS: not significant, Tg: thyroglobulin, TPO: thyroid peroxidase, TRAb: TSH-receptor antibody, TSH: thyrotropin, UIC: urinary iodine concentration

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