Selenium levels and skin diseases: systematic review and meta-analysis
Jun lv Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology Volume 62, December 2020, 126548
Background
Several studies have investigated the association between selenium levels and skin diseases, but reached inconsistent results.
Objective
This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between selenium levels and skin diseases.
Methods
A systematic search was conducted in public databases to identify all relevant studies, and study-specific standard mean differences (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were pooled to compare the selenium levels between different groups.
Results
Twenty-seven studies were identified with a total of 1315 patient and 7181 healthy controls. Compared with controls, no significant difference in selenium was found in patients with vitiligo (SMD = 0.53, 95% CI: –0.40 to 1.45), alopecia areata (SMD = 0.47, 95% CI: –2.72 and 3.65), or eczema (SMD = 0.12, 95% CI: –0.24 to 0.48). A lower selenium level was found in patients with psoriasis (SMD = –0.62, 95% CI: –1.15 to –0.10), acne vulgaris (SMD = –1.02, 95% CI: –1.45 to –0.60), chloric acne (SMD = –2.35, 95% CI: –3.15 to –1.55), and atopic dermatitis (SMD = –2.62, 95% CI: –3.00 to –2.24). As for disease severity, severe patients had a higher selenium level than mild patients in psoriasis (SMD = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.07–1.38), but no difference was found in vitiligo (SMD = –0.26, 95% CI: –2.38 to 1.85) and alopecia areata (SMD = 0.46, 95% CI: –0.34 to 1.26).
Conclusion
Selenium levels were associated with several skin diseases and the disease severity, and high selenium levels tended to be a protective factor in certain skin diseases.