title: The relationship between selenium levels and breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: Breast cancer is the most common cancer type. In several studies, hints have been provided that there is a correlation between selenium deficiency and the incidence of breast cancer. Findings of these published reports are, however, inconsistent. This study serves as a pioneering study aiming at combining the results of studies using a meta-analytic method. A total of 16 articles published between 1980 and 2012 worldwide were selected through searching PubMed, Scopus, and Google scholar databases, and the information were analyzed using a meta-analytic method [random effects model]. I (2) statistics were used to examine heterogeneity. The information was then analyzed by STATA version 12. In this study, due to the non-uniform methods used to measure selenium concentrations, selenium levels were measured in the various subgroups in both case and control groups. There were significant correlations between selenium concentration and breast cancer [P<0.05]. Hence, the mean risk differentiating criteria were estimated to be 0.63 [95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.93 to 0.32] in serum and toenails. Subgroup analysis showed that the value in toenails was -0.07 [95% CI -0.16 to 0.03] and in serum -1.04 [95% CI 1.71 to -0.38]. In studies in which selenium concentrations were measured in serum, a significant correlation was observed between selenium concentration and breast cancer. In contrast, in studies in which selenium concentration was measured in toenails, the correlation was not significant. Therefore, the selenium concentration can be used as one predictor for breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Msc Biochemistry, Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran.
authors.forename: Nasim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Babaknejad
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sayehmiri
authors.forename: Kourosh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sayehmiri
authors.forename: Parya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rahimifar
authors.forename: Somaye
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bahrami
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delpesheh
authors.forename: Farhad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hemati
authors.forename: Sajjad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alizadeh
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009262:Nails / Q000737:chemistry; D012643:Selenium / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D012643:Selenium