The selenium status of women with a history of recurrent miscarriage

Objective To assess the relationship between selenium levels in human blood and hair, and the risk of recurrent miscarriages. Design Case-control study. Participants Two groups of non-pregnant women: 18 women with one or more su ccessful pregnancies and no history of miscarriage (control group); 26 wome n with a history of recurrent miscarriage (greater than or equal to 3) with no subsequent successful pregnancies (study group). Methods Samples of venous blood and scalp hair were collected and the selen ium content analysed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Results No significance difference was found between the level of selenium in the blood samples of the women in each group. There was a significant re duction in the mean hair selenium level in the recurrent miscarriage group compared with the control group (0.14 mug/g vs 0.34 mug/g). Further analysi s of the recurrent miscarriage group revealed no relationship between level s of serum or hair selenium with parity. There was a significantly greater proportion of women in the control group who ate cereals, vitamin supplemen ts. and liver or kidney. Conclusion There was evidence of selenium deficiency in women with recurren t miscarriages compared with a control group of women with a good reproduct ive performance. This difference was seen in hair samples but not serum sam ples and therefore may not represent a simple nutritional deficiency. The i mportance of selenium deficiency in miscarriage has still not been determin ed.