Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26105108›Full record

ArticleEuropean journal of clinical nutrition2016

Relatively high mortality risk in elderly Swedish subjects with low selenium status.

U Alehagen, P Johansson, M Björnstedt, A Rosén, C Post, J Aaseth

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in European journal of clinical nutrition, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
50citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
5.6field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

50 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 98 citations in OpenAlex.

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  17. Selenium and Coenzyme QAntioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
    Article
  18. Serum CD5L Responds Positively to Selenium and Coenzyme QAntioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

U AlehagenDivision of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Heart Center, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
P JohanssonDivision of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Heart Center, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
M BjörnstedtDivision of Pathology F42, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden.
A RosénDivision of Cell Biology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
C PostDivision of Cell Biology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
J AasethResearch Department, Innlandet Hospital Trust and Hedmark University College, Norway.
Linköping University · SEInnlandet Hospital Trust · NOKarolinska Institutet · SE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND/

objectivesThe daily dietary intake of selenium (Se), an essential trace element, is still low in Sweden in spite of decades of nutritional information campaigns and the effect of this on the public health is presently not well known. The objective of this study was to determine the serum Se levels in an elderly Swedish population and to analyze whether a low Se status had any influence on mortality. SUBJECTS/

methodsSix-hundred sixty-eight (n=668) elderly participants were invited from a municipality and evaluated in an observational study. Individuals were followed for 6.8 years and Se levels were re-evaluated in 98 individuals after 48 months. Clinical examination of all individuals included functional classification, echocardiography, electrocardiogram and serum Se measurement. All mortality was registered and endpoints of mortality were assessed by Kaplan-Meier plots, and Cox proportional hazard ratios adjusted for potential confounding factors were calculated.

resultsThe mean serum Se level of the study population (n=668) was 67.1 μg/l, corresponding to relatively low Se intake. After adjustment for male gender, smoking, ischemic heart disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and impaired heart function, persons with serum Se in the lowest quartile had 43% (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.02-2.00) and 56% (95% CI: 1.03-2.36) increased risk for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, respectively. The result was not driven by inflammatory effects on Se concentration in serum.

conclusionThe mean serum Se concentration in an elderly Swedish population was 67.1 μg/l, which is below the physiological saturation level for several selenoprotein enzymes. This result may suggest the value of modest Se supplementation in order to improve the health of the Swedish population.

Indexed as

Nutritional StatusAgedAged, 80 and overCardiovascular DiseasesCause of DeathDeficiency DiseasesFemaleHumansMaleProportional Hazards ModelsRiskSeleniumSwedenTrace ElementsSeleniumTrace Elements

Identifiers

PMID26105108
PMCPMC4709701
OpenAlexW1798773025

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-SA
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.