Selenium Supplementation in Pregnancy-Maternal and Newborn Outcomes
Table 2
Reported neonatal outcomes on Se supplementation.
Clinical condition
Result of Se supplementation
Reference/Country/Sample size (n)/Quality
Neonatal oxidative stress
Se supplementation increased foetal cord blood selenium levels (106.3 ± 18.2 vs. 101.9 ± 15.9, ) and increased foetal PAB (37.2(26.1–121.0) vs. 30.8(24.0–45.5), ). But there was no effect on foetal birth weight, gestational age at birth, Apgar score at 1 and 5 minutes, newborn mortality, and morbidity.
Se supplementation during pregnancy did not significantly change the cord blood selenium (106.3 vs. 101.9 μg/L), total cholesterol (96.7 vs. 79.6 mg/dl), LDL-C (58 vs. 45.1 mg/dl), and HDL-C (23 vs. 20.2 mg/dl) levels but increased the serum triglyceride level (56 vs. 38.5 mg/dl) (). There was no effect of Se supplementation on the foetal sex, gestational age at birth, birth weight, birth length, head circumference, and Apgar scores at 1 and 5 minutes.
Maternal Se supplementation reduced risk of low birth weight babies (relative risk (RR) = 0.71; 95% CI: 0.49, 1.05; ) and risk of child mortality after 6 weeks (RR = 0.43; 95% CI = 0.19, 0.99; ), but it increased risk of foetal death (RR = 1.58; 95% CI = 0.95,2.63; ). There was no effect on risk of prematurity or small-for-gestational age birth.
Se supplementation resulted in a nonsignificant reduction in the risk of delivering low birth weight babies at term pregnancy (RR 0.24, 95% CI 0.05–1.19).
Selenium supplementation in GDM patients significantly decreased incidence of newborns’ hyperbilirubinemia (5.6% vs. 33.3%, ) and newborns’ hospitalization (5.6% vs. 33.3%, ).
