Parenteral selenium for the clinical effect of sepsis: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Previous studies have shown that selenium and its compounds play a role in immunomodulatory, antioxidant stress and so on. If selenium can improve the prognosis of patients with sepsis, it will be another weapon in the treatment of sepsis. At present, there are some randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about parenteral selenium for the treatment of sepsis. However, the results of those studies are not consistent. Studies were searched from electronic databases including PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase. RCTs which applied the selenium to septic patients as the inference measure were collected. After data extraction and the evaluation for eventual inclusion literatures, the data were analyzed by the statistical software RevMan 5.3. A total of 11 RCTs were included, containing 1916 septic patients. Meta-analysis showed that there is no statistically significant difference between the selenium group and the control group in mortality (RR=0.95, 95%CI=0.83-1.08, P=0.42), ICU length of stay (MD=1.56, 95%CI=-0.66-3.79, P=0.17) and new infections (RR=0.95, 95%CI=0.73-1.24, P=0.69). The present study suggests that there is no sufficient evidence that the parenteral selenium can improve the prognosis of septic patients.