Maternal selenium status in pregnancy, offspring glutathione peroxidase 4 genotype, and childhood asthma

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Two prospective birth cohort studies have suggested that prenatal selenium status may play a role in the inception of childhood asthma. In the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), umbilical cord tissue concentration of selenium was negatively associated with risk of wheezing in early childhood1; in another United Kingdom cohort, maternal and cord plasma selenium concentrations were negatively associated with wheezing in the second year of life, but not at 5 years.2 Associations between biomarkers of prenatal selenium exposure and asthma and wheezing later in childhood have not been reported.