ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SERUM SELENIUM AND THE RISK OF CANCER

Abstract

A matched-pair analysis was conducted with data based on a prospective six-year follow-up of a random population sample to study the association between serum selenium and the risk of cancer. Case-control pairs were from a population, after exclusions, of 8,113 persons examined in 1972 from two counties in eastern Finland. Cases were 31- to 59-year-old men and women initially free of cancer. One control was matched to each case according to age, gender, daily tobacco consumption, and serum cholesterol concentratlon. The mean serum selenium of the 128 cases was 50.5 μg/llter and that of the controls was 54.3 μg/llter (p = 0.012 tor dtfference). When the residual variation in tobacco consumptlon and serum cholesterol as well as that in four other possible confounders was allowed for in a multiple logistic model, serum selenium of less than 45 μg/llter was associated with a relatlve rlsk of cancer of 3.1 (95% confidence interval, 1.5–6.7, p < 0.01). These data support the hypothesis that selenium deficiency increases the rlsk of certain cancers in middle-aged persons.