Comparative studyof serum selenium levels in essential hypertensive and normotensive and normatensive adults at the University Teaching Hosipital , Lusaka, Zambia
Date
2017
Authors
Chisulo, Chiti Angela
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
In Zambia, essential hypertension is one of the commonest and prevalent non-communicable
diseases. In the current medical literature it is not clear on the serum selenium levels among
essential hypertensive adults in Zambia despite evidence in literature of its role in
development of essential hypertension. The present study investigated serum selenium levels
in essential hypertensive adults attending clinic 5 at the University Teaching Hospital Lusaka
Zambia. We hypothesized that serum selenium levels were significantly lower in this
population and was a risk factor for developing essential hypertension. An analytical crosssectional
design was applied to a total of 245 participants. These were composed of 126
essential hypertensive patients and 119 healthy normotensive adults of both sexes. Only
participants who met the inclusion criteria and agreed to take part in the study by signing
consent forms were enrolled. Blood was collected for serum levels of Selenium, glucose,
urea, creatinine and electrolytes. Student t-test was used to compare the mean serum selenium
levels between hypertensive and normotensive participants as data was normally distributed.
Lower levels of serum Selenium were observed in essential hypertensive adults (0.093 ±
0.048 mg/L) than in healthy normotensive adults (0.109± 0.047) and this was statistically
significant (p-0.0001). Linear regression results showed no significant relationship off
Selenium levels with age (p-0.255), BMI (p-0.232), systolic blood pressure (p-0.195) and
diastolic blood pressure (p-176).The present study found that the mean serum selenium levels
in hypertensive participants were significantly lower compared to normotensive participants.
However, serum selenium levels were not significantly related to blood pressure hence serum
selenium levels may not be a risk factor for development of essential hypertension in this
population. Nevertheless, more studies in the same geographical area are needed to confirm
this.
Key words: Hypertension, Essential hypertension, Selenium, Oxidative stress and Reactive
Oxygen species (ROS)
Description
Keywords
Hypertantion--Zambia