The Study
Selenium serum levels in Grave's patients with or without thyroid ophthalmopathy.
This study looked at selenium levels in people with a thyroid problem and compared them to healthy people. It found that selenium levels were slightly different in some groups, but it didn't change anything — it just looked and recorded. So we can't say selenium causes the thyroid problem — we can only say they might be connected.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
Scientists checked selenium levels in people with thyroid disease, some with eye problems and some without, and compared them to healthy people.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 544 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1The selenium levels were not low enough to explain eye problems, but there's a pattern linking selenium to thyroid hormones in both groups.
- 2Selenium levels were similar in all three groups: eye problems (94.5), no eye problems (96.8), and healthy (102.6).
- 3But in people with eye problems, lower selenium linked to higher T3, T4, and TSH.
- 4In people without eye problems, lower selenium linked to higher T4 and TSH, but not T3.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Endocrine practice : official journal of the American College of Endocrinology and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists
Year
2022
Authors
N. Owji, F. Moradi, M. Khalili, H. Jahanbani-Ardakani
Related Content
Claims (4)
People with Graves' disease with eye complications, Graves' disease without eye complications, and healthy individuals have similar levels of selenium in their blood.
In people with Graves' disease and eye complications, lower selenium levels in the blood are consistently linked to higher levels of T3, T4, and TSH thyroid hormones.
In people with Graves' disease who do not have eye complications, lower selenium levels in the blood are linked to higher T4 and TSH hormone levels, but not to T3 levels.
Low selenium levels are linked to worse eye inflammation in Graves' ophthalmopathy because of reduced antioxidant activity in eye tissues.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.