Author:

Keywords:

HYPERGENES - 201550;info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/201550, Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems, Cardiovascular System & Cardiology, blood pressure, epidemiology, hypertension, prospective, SERUM SELENIUM, GLUTATHIONE-PEROXIDASE, ESSENTIAL-HYPERTENSION, PLASMA-LIPOPROTEINS, DIETARY SELENIUM, HEART-DISEASE, HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA, SUPPLEMENTATION, ASSOCIATION, STRESS, Adult, Age Distribution, Blood Pressure, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Hypertension, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Proportional Hazards Models, Risk Factors, Selenium, Sex Distribution, Smoking, 1102 Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology, 1103 Clinical Sciences, Cardiovascular System & Hematology, 3201 Cardiovascular medicine and haematology, 3202 Clinical sciences

Abstract:

Aims Western Europeans have low blood levels of selenium (BSe), an antioxidant trace element. In a Flemish population, we investigated the cross-sectional and longitudinal association of blood pressure (BP) with BSe. Methods and results We randomly recruited 710 subjects (mean age 48.8 years; 51.8% women). We measured BP and BSe and kept participants in follow-up for BP. At baseline, systolic/diastolic BP averaged (SD) 130/77 (17.3/9.2) mmHg. BSe was 97.0 (19.0) microg/L. Of 385 participants with normal baseline BP (<130 and <85 mmHg), over 5.2 years (range 3.4-8.4 years), 139 developed high-normal BP (130-139/85-90 mmHg) or hypertension (>/=140/90 mmHg). In multivariate-adjusted cross-sectional analyses of men, a 20 microg/L ( approximately 1 SD) higher BSe was associated with lower BP with effect sizes of 2.2 mmHg systolic (95% CI -0.57 to -5.05; P = 0.009) and 1.5 mmHg diastolic (95% CI -0.56 to -2.44; P = 0.017). In prospective analyses of men, a 20 microg/L higher baseline BSe was associated with a 37% (95% CI -52 to -17; P = 0.001) lower risk of developing high-normal BP or hypertension. None of these associations was significant in women. Conclusion Deficiency of selenium might be an underestimated risk factor for the development of high BP in European men.