SynthesisMedicine2019
The clinical outcomes of selenium supplementation on critically ill patients: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in Medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04869579 (Selenium as a Potential Treatment for Moderately-ill, Severely-ill, and Critically-ill COVID-19 Patients), which is not on this map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Selenium as a Potential Treatment for Moderately-ill, Severely-ill, and Critically-ill COVID-19 Patients
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effect of selenium therapy in critically ill patients: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.European journal of medical research · 2023Pooled it
- The Role of Nutrition in COVID-19 Susceptibility and Severity of Disease: A Systematic Review.The Journal of nutrition · 2021Pooled it
- Oral Selenium as an Adjunct in the Treatment of Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infections in Children: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.Indian pediatrics · 2025Trial
- Selenium as an Antioxidant: Roles and Clinical Applications in Critically Ill and Trauma Patients: A Narrative Review.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- What do we know about micronutrients in critically ill patients? A narrative review.JPEN. Journal of parenteral and enteral nutrition · 2025Review
- Comparison of Sodium Selenite and Selenium-Enriched Spirulina Supplementation Effects After Selenium Deficiency on Growth, Tissue Selenium Concentrations, Antioxidant Activities, and Selenoprotein Expression in Rats.Biological trace element research · 2024Article
- Circulating micronutrient levels and their association with sepsis susceptibility and severity: a Mendelian randomization study.Frontiers in genetics · 2024Article
- Selenium, Stroke, and Infection: A Threefold Relationship; Where Do We Stand and Where Do We Go?Nutrients · 2023Review
- Circulating levels of micronutrients and risk of infections: a Mendelian randomization study.BMC medicine · 2023Article
- Can Selenium Reduce the Susceptibility and Severity of SARS-CoV-2?-A Comprehensive Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Selenium Levels and Antioxidant Activity in Critically Ill Patients with Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome.Metabolites · 2022Article
- The effects of selenium supplementation on inflammatory markers in critically ill patients.SN applied sciences · 2022Review
- Liver disease and COVID-19: The link with oxidative stress, antioxidants and nutrition.World journal of gastroenterology · 2021Review
- The Pharmacology and Therapeutic Utility of Sodium Hydroselenide.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in COVID-19-Associated Sepsis: The Potential Role of Anti-Oxidant Therapy in Avoiding Disease Progression.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
- Selenium and RNA Virus Interactions: Potential Implications for SARS-CoV-2 Infection (COVID-19).Frontiers in nutrition · 2020Review
- Selenium and hydrogen selenide: essential micronutrient and the fourth gasotransmitter?Intensive care medicine experimental · 2019Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeSelenium supplementation is a potentially promising adjunctive therapy for critically ill patients, but the results are controversy among studies. Accordingly, we performed this meta-analysis to more clearly detect the efficacy and safety of selenium supplementation on critically ill patients.
methodsSystematic literature retrieval was carried out to obtain RCTs on selenium supplementation for critically ill patients up to August 2017. Data extraction and quality evaluation of these studies were performed by 2 investigators. Statistical analyses was performed by RevMan 5.3. Trial sequential analysis (TSA) was conducted to control the risks of type I and type II errors and calculate required information size (RIS).
resultsTotally 19 RCTs involving 3341 critically ill patients were carried out in which 1694 participates were in the selenium supplementation group, and 1647 in the control. The aggregated results suggested that compared with the control, intravenous selenium supplement as a single therapy could decrease the total mortality (RR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.78-0.95, P = .002, TSA-adjusted 95% CI = 0.77-0.96, RIS = 4108, n = 3297) and may shorten the length of stay in hospital (MD -2.30, 95% CI -4.03 to -0.57, P = .009), but had no significant treatment effect on 28-days mortality (RR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.85-1.09, P = .54) and could not shorten the length of ICU stay (MD -0.15, 95% CI -1.68 to 1.38, P = .84) in critically ill patients. Our results also showed that selenium supplementation did not increase incidence of drug-induced side effect compared with the control (RR 1.04, 95% CI 0.83 to 1.30, P = .73).
conclusionsThe current evidence suggests that the use of selenium could reduce the total mortality, and TSA results showed that our outcome is reliable and no more randomized controlled trials are needed. But selenium supplementation might have no effect on reducing 28-days mortality as well as the incidence of new infections, or on length of stay in ICU or mechanical ventilation. However, the results should be used carefully because of potential limitations.
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Registered trials
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.