Maternal hair selenium levels as a possible long-term nutritional indicator of recurrent pregnancy loss

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dc.contributor.authorThomas, Vijuen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorKnight, Roberten_ZA
dc.contributor.authorHaswell, Stephenen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorLindow, Stephenen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorvan der Spuy, Zephneen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-10-28T07:00:10Z
dc.date.available2015-10-28T07:00:10Z
dc.date.issued2013en_ZA
dc.description.abstractBACKGROUND:Approximately 1% of all couples trying to conceive will suffer from recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). Nutritional deficiencies have been postulated as a possible cause of RPL and in particular, selenium deficiency has been associated with reproductive failure in animal studies and more recently, in some human studies. This study was undertaken to assess the maternal hair selenium levels in women with RPL without an identified cause and to compare these results with those of women with successful reproductive histories. METHODS: Twenty four patients with RPL and twenty four control subjects with at least one successful pregnancy and no pregnancy failures, who were matched for age and ethnicity, were recruited. A questionnaire was completed, which included demographic and social information and a dietary history. Hair samples were collected and analyzed for selenium content by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. RESULTS: The control subjects had a higher mean income and had completed more years of education compared with the RPL patients. There was no significant difference in the intake of selenium rich foods between the 2 groups. The patients, however, consumed significantly more fruit, cheese, potatoes and chocolate than the controls. The median (range) selenium content was 0.80ppm (0.19-4.15) and 0.68ppm (0.43-3.76) in patients and controls respectively (Mann Whitney U test 209.5 p=0.74). CONCLUSIONS: While there were significant differences in the 2 groups with regard to resources, education and diet our results show that hair selenium concentrations and dietary selenium intake, were similar in the two groups. Both groups had low levels of this important element.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationThomas, V., Knight, R., Haswell, S., Lindow, S., & van der Spuy, Z. (2013). Maternal hair selenium levels as a possible long-term nutritional indicator of recurrent pregnancy loss. <i>BMC Women's Health</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14448en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationThomas, Viju, Robert Knight, Stephen Haswell, Stephen Lindow, and Zephne van der Spuy "Maternal hair selenium levels as a possible long-term nutritional indicator of recurrent pregnancy loss." <i>BMC Women's Health</i> (2013) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14448en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationThomas, V. V., Knight, R., Haswell, S. J., Lindow, S. W., & van der Spuy, Z. M. (2013). Maternal hair selenium levels as a possible long-term nutritional indicator of recurrent pregnancy loss. BMC women's health, 13(1), 40.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Thomas, Viju AU - Knight, Robert AU - Haswell, Stephen AU - Lindow, Stephen AU - van der Spuy, Zephne AB - BACKGROUND:Approximately 1% of all couples trying to conceive will suffer from recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). Nutritional deficiencies have been postulated as a possible cause of RPL and in particular, selenium deficiency has been associated with reproductive failure in animal studies and more recently, in some human studies. This study was undertaken to assess the maternal hair selenium levels in women with RPL without an identified cause and to compare these results with those of women with successful reproductive histories. METHODS: Twenty four patients with RPL and twenty four control subjects with at least one successful pregnancy and no pregnancy failures, who were matched for age and ethnicity, were recruited. A questionnaire was completed, which included demographic and social information and a dietary history. Hair samples were collected and analyzed for selenium content by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. RESULTS: The control subjects had a higher mean income and had completed more years of education compared with the RPL patients. There was no significant difference in the intake of selenium rich foods between the 2 groups. The patients, however, consumed significantly more fruit, cheese, potatoes and chocolate than the controls. The median (range) selenium content was 0.80ppm (0.19-4.15) and 0.68ppm (0.43-3.76) in patients and controls respectively (Mann Whitney U test 209.5 p=0.74). CONCLUSIONS: While there were significant differences in the 2 groups with regard to resources, education and diet our results show that hair selenium concentrations and dietary selenium intake, were similar in the two groups. Both groups had low levels of this important element. DA - 2013 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1186/1472-6874-13-40 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - BMC Women's Health LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2013 T1 - Maternal hair selenium levels as a possible long-term nutritional indicator of recurrent pregnancy loss TI - Maternal hair selenium levels as a possible long-term nutritional indicator of recurrent pregnancy loss UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14448 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/14448
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6874-13-40
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationThomas V, Knight R, Haswell S, Lindow S, van der Spuy Z. Maternal hair selenium levels as a possible long-term nutritional indicator of recurrent pregnancy loss. BMC Women's Health. 2013; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14448.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherBioMed Central Ltden_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecologyen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Health Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsThis is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licenseen_ZA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0en_ZA
dc.sourceBMC Women's Healthen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcwomenshealth/en_ZA
dc.subject.otherSeleniumen_ZA
dc.subject.otherRecurrent pregnancy lossen_ZA
dc.subject.otherMiscarriageen_ZA
dc.subject.otherMicronutrientsen_ZA
dc.subject.otherHairen_ZA
dc.titleMaternal hair selenium levels as a possible long-term nutritional indicator of recurrent pregnancy lossen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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