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Research: NAVARRO and colleagues,
Listed in Issue 34
Abstract
NAVARRO and colleagues, Department of Nutrition and Bromatology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, Spain . nalarcon@platon.ugr.es conducted a cross-sectional study of serum selenium levels in cancer patients in Spain.
Background
Methodology
59 cancer patients were divided into 4 groups according to cancer location: 1) Respiratory; 2) Digestive; 3) Haematological; 4) Gynaecological. 130 healthy people from the same area and 93 institutionalised elderly people functioned as control groups.
Results
Compared to the control groups, the levels of serum selenium in all cancer patients were significantly lower. The mean serum selenium levels were not significantly different among the 4 groups. There were no significant relationships between serum selenium levels and sex or age of patients.
Conclusion
Given that there is a marked overlap between the two ranges of the populations, the predictive values of serum selenium are low. Therefore, there is indeed a statistical significance between the means; however selenium cannot be used to determine whether or not a patient has cancer.
References
Navarro AM et al. Serum selenium levels as indicators of body status in cancer patients and their relationship with other nutritional and biochemical markers. Sci Total Environ 212(2-3): 195-202. Apr 8 1998.
