Affiliations: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD,
USA | Longitudinal Studies Section, Clinical Research
Branch, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD, USA | Epidemiology, Demography and Biometry Branch, National
Institute on Aging, Bethesda, MD, USA
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Justine Beck, 600 N. Wolfe St.,
Wilmer-Woods Building Room 268, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA. Tel.: +1 443 287
5049; Fax: +1 410 955 1322; E-mail: jbeck19@jhmi.edu
Abstract: 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.
Keywords: Aging, muscle, sarcopenia, selenium, strength, women
Journal: BioFactors, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 37-44, 2007
