Association between fatality rate of COVID-19 and selenium deficiency in China.
BMC Infect Dis
; 21(1): 452, 2021 May 19.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1236546
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
COVID-19 has impacted populations around the world, with the fatality rate varying dramatically across countries. Selenium, as one of the important micronutrients implicated in viral infections, was suggested to play roles.METHODS:
An ecological study was performed to assess the association between the COVID-19 related fatality and the selenium content both from crops and topsoil, in China.RESULTS:
Totally, 14,045 COVID-19 cases were reported from 147 cities during 8 December 2019-13 December 2020 were included. Based on selenium content in crops, the case fatality rates (CFRs) gradually increased from 1.17% in non-selenium-deficient areas, to 1.28% in moderate-selenium-deficient areas, and further to 3.16% in severe-selenium-deficient areas (P = 0.002). Based on selenium content in topsoil, the CFRs gradually increased from 0.76% in non-selenium-deficient areas, to 1.70% in moderate-selenium-deficient areas, and further to 1.85% in severe-selenium-deficient areas (P < 0.001). The zero-inflated negative binomial regression model showed a significantly higher fatality risk in cities with severe-selenium-deficient selenium content in crops than non-selenium-deficient cities, with incidence rate ratio (IRR) of 3.88 (95% CIs 1.21-12.52), which was further confirmed by regression fitting the association between CFR of COVID-19 and selenium content in topsoil, with the IRR of 2.38 (95% CIs 1.14-4.98) for moderate-selenium-deficient cities and 3.06 (1.49-6.27) for severe-selenium-deficient cities.CONCLUSIONS:
Regional selenium deficiency might be related to an increased CFR of COVID-19. Future studies are needed to explore the associations between selenium status and disease outcome at individual-level.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Selenium
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
BMC Infect Dis
Journal subject:
Communicable Diseases
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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