Low serum selenium concentrations are associated with poor grip strength among older women living in the community.
Aging is associated with a loss of muscle strength, and, in turn, loss of muscle strength has been associated with increased risk of frailty, disability and mortality. The factors that contribute to loss of muscle strength with aging have not been well characterized. Selenium is important in normal muscle function because of its role in selenoenzymes that protect muscle against oxidative damage. We hypothesized that low serum selenium concentrations were associated with poor grip strength. We examined the association between serum selenium and hand grip strength among 676 moderately to severely disabled community-dwelling women in the Women's Health and Aging Study I in Baltimore, Maryland. After adjusting for age, race, body mass index, Mini-Mental Status Examination score, current smoking, hypertension, congestive heart failure and depression, serum selenium was associated with grip strength (P=0.04). This study supports the idea that selenium is important to muscle strength in older women.
Beck
Justine
J
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA. jbeck19@jhmi.edu
Ferrucci
Luigi
L
Sun
Kai
K
Walston
Jeremy
J
Fried
Linda P
LP
Varadhan
Ravi
R
Guralnik
Jack M
JM
Semba
Richard D
RD
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology; D015142:Baltimore; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D012643:Selenium / Q000097:blood*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016387:Women's Health
D012643:Selenium