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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neuroepidemiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1490760
Associations between blood selenium and serum neurofilament light chain: Results of a nationwide survey
Provisionally accepted- The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Liuzhou, China
Background: Selenium (Se) is essential for many nervous system functions including memory, cognition and coordination, which has also been linked to a variety of neurological disorders, such as epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). Serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL) is a biomarker of neurologic diseases. Studies on the relationship between blood Se and sNfL are limited. Methods: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013-2014 data were employed to perform multivariate linear regression analysis and smooth curve fitting in order to investigate the relationship between blood Se and sNfL. Utilizing subgroup analyses and interaction tests, the stability of this relationship between populations was evaluated. Results: sNfL and blood Se had an inverse relationship in 1036 individuals who were older than 20. According to the fully adjusted model, the sNfL decreased by 54.75 pg/ml for every unit increase in log blood Se ]. The sNfL of individuals in the highest blood Se quartile decreased by 3.4 pg/ml in comparison to those in the lowest quartile [β = -3.40, 95% CI (-6.47, -0.32)]. This inverse association was more significant in those who were younger than 60 years old, male, normal weight, had a history of smoking and drinking. Conclusion: Blood Se is inversely associated with sNfL in American adults. Our findings indicate that blood Se may have a potential protective effect against neuronal damage.
Keywords: blood Se, sNfL, Protective, Central Nervous System, NHANES
Received: 09 Sep 2024; Accepted: 25 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Pan, Liao, Zhou, Lin, Deng, Qin, Weng and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Liya Pan, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Liuzhou, China
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