Change of selenium in environment and risk of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: a retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES: Scoliosis is the dis - ease which has a long history over one century. However, the pathogenesis remains unclear at present. To demonstrate the effect of different selenium content in environment on the morbidi - ty of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). METHODS: Retrospective cohort study (fol - low-up from 1997 to 2009): compare the differ - ence morbidity between high selenium group and the normal selenium group of AIS. PATIENTS: 9998 cases from three areas in Chi - na were participated in this study. There is differ - ent selenium content in these three areas. RESULTS: High selenium levels were signifi - cant associated with the AIS morbidity. While low selenium level had no significant correla - tion with the AIS morbidity. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed that high selenium content in the environment was one of risk factors for idiopathic scoliosis. We speculated that the excessive growth of the spine and the spinal cord asynchronous growth effect were key factors that high selenium con - tent in the environment leads to scoliosis.