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Selenium and maternal blood pressure during childbirth

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 22, pages 191–197 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Evidence suggests selenium concentrations outside the nutritional range may worsen cardiovascular health. This paper examines the relationship between selenium and maternal blood pressure (BP) among 270 deliveries using umbilical cord serum as a proxy for maternal exposure levels. Multivariable models used linear splines for selenium and controlled for gestational age, maternal age, race, median household income, parity, smoking, and prepregnancy body mass index. Non-parametric analysis of this dataset was used to select spline knots for selenium at 70 and 90 μg/l. When selenium was <70 μg/l, increasing selenium levels were related to a non-statistically significant decrease in BP. For selenium 70–90 μg/l, a 1 μg/l increase was related to a 0.37 mm Hg (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.005, 0.73) change in systolic and a 0.35 mm Hg (0.07, 0.64) change in diastolic BP. There were very few selenium values >90 μg/l. Other studies indicate that the maternal/cord selenium ratio is 1.46 (95% CI: 1.28, 1.65). This u-shaped relationship between selenium and BP is consistent with a dual role of selenium as an essential micronutrient that is nonetheless a toxicant at higher concentrations; however, this needs to be studied further.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Drs. John Bernert, Jochen Heidler, Joseph Hibbeln, Robert Jones, and Norman Salem, Jr. for contributing to data collection; Drs. Ana Navas-Acien and Ellen Silbergeld for advice; and Ruth Quinn and Tonya Shephard for project support. This work was supported in part by the Maryland Cigarette Restitution Program Research Grant, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grant 1R01ES015445 (RUH), and a United States Environmental Protection Agency Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Fellowship (EMW). The content and views presented in this work are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of US EPA, CDC, or NIH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Ellen M Wells, Lynn R Goldman & Rolf U Halden

  2. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

    Ellen M Wells

  3. George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, Washington, DC, USA

    Lynn R Goldman

  4. Inorganic and Radiation Analytical Toxicology Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Jeffery M Jarrett & Kathleen L Caldwell

  5. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Benjamin J Apelberg

  6. The Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York, USA

    Julie B Herbstman

  7. Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA

    Rolf U Halden

  8. Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Frank R Witter

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  1. Ellen M Wells
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Correspondence to Lynn R Goldman.

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Wells, E., Goldman, L., Jarrett, J. et al. Selenium and maternal blood pressure during childbirth. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 22, 191–197 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2011.42

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