LAUSR

Background The prospective association between plasma Se and stroke risk remains inconclusive. The relationship between Se and ischemic stroke among a low circulating Se status population deserves more attention, especially for Chinese people who were a high-risk group for Se deficiency. Objective The relationship between plasma Se concentration and ischemic stroke risk in a large-scale Chinese community-based population and any potential effect modifiers were investigated. Methods A nested, case-control study, using data from the “China H-type Hypertension Registry Study” were conducted. A total of 1,904 first ischemic stroke cases and 1,904 controls matched for age, sex, and village were included in this study. The association between plasma Se and first ischemic stroke was evaluated by conditional logistic regression analyses. Results The median value of plasma Se was 65.8 μg/L among total participants. Overall, a significant inverse relationship between plasma Se and first ischemic stroke risk was found (per SD increment; adjusted OR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.80 and 0.95). Accordingly, a significantly lower risk of first ischemic stroke was found in participants in quartile 3 (65.8−<77.8 μg/L) (adjusted OR: 0.78; 95% CI: 0.63 and 0.96) and quartile 4 (≥77.8 μg/L) (adjusted OR: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.59 and 0.96), compared with those in quartile 1 (<56.0 μg/L). Furthermore, a significantly lower ischemic stroke risk was found in those with lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels (<3.4 vs. ≥3.4 mmol/L; P for interaction = 0.015) or those with lower homocysteine levels (<12.1 (median) vs. ≥12.1 μmol/L; P for interaction = 0.027) at baseline. Conclusion Plasma Se was significantly inversely associated with the risk of first ischemic stroke among a large-scale Chinese community-based population (most adults with hypertension and elevated total homocysteine), especially among those with lower LDL-C and lower homocysteine levels.