Highlights
- •We found an inverse association between toenail selenium and head-neck cancer risk.
- •This association was strongest for oro-/hypopharyngeal and laryngeal cancer.
- •The association of toenail selenium with HNC risk was stronger among men than women.
Abstract
Background
There is limited prospective data on the relationship between selenium status and
the risk of head-neck cancer (HNC) and HNC subtypes (i.e., oral cavity cancer [OCC],
oro-/hypopharyngeal cancer [OHPC] and laryngeal cancer [LC]). Therefore, we investigated
the association between toenail selenium, reflecting long-term selenium exposure,
and HNC risk within the Netherlands Cohort Study.
Methods
At baseline, 120,852 participants completed a self-administered questionnaire about
diet and other cancer risk factors and were asked to provide toenail clippings. After
20.3 years of follow-up, 294 cases of HNC (95 OCC, 62 OHPC, two oral cavity/pharynx
unspecified or overlapping and 135 LC) and 2,164 subcohort members were available
for case-cohort analysis using Cox proportional hazards models.
Results
Toenail selenium status was statistically significantly associated with a decreased
risk of HNC overall (multivariate RR for quartile four versus one: 0.55, 95% confidence
interval [CI] 0.37–0.82, P trend = 0.001). The association between toenail selenium and risk of HNC overall
was stronger among men than women, but no statistically significant interaction with
sex was found. Toenail selenium level was also associated with a decreased risk of
all HNC subtypes, with statistically significant associations in OHPC and LC. No statistically
significant interaction was found between toenail selenium level and cigarette smoking
or alcohol consumption for HNC overall.
Conclusions
In this large cohort study, we found an inverse association between toenail selenium
level and HNC risk. Among HNC subtypes, this association was strongest for OHPC and
LC. Furthermore, the association of toenail selenium status with HNC risk was stronger
among men than women.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to European Journal of CancerAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Selenium in cancer prevention: a review of the evidence and mechanism of action.Proc Nutr Soc. 2005; 64: 527-542
- Selenium and human health.Lancet. 2012; 379: 1256-1268
- Advanced prostate cancer risk in relation to toenail selenium levels.J Natl Cancer Inst. 2013; 105: 1394-1401
- Selenium status and the risk of esophageal and gastric cancer subtypes: the Netherlands cohort study.Gastroenterology. 2010; 138: 1704-1713
- Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective.American Institute for Cancer Research, Washington DC2007
- A Review of Human Carcinogens.International Agency for Research on Cancer, Biological Agents. Lyon2012
- A case-control study of oral cancer and pre-diagnostic concentrations of selenium and zinc in nail tissue.Int J Cancer. 1991; 48: 182-188
- Serum micronutrients and risk of cancers of low incidence in Finland.Am J Epidemiol. 1991; 134: 356-361
- Serum micronutrients and the subsequent risk of oral and pharyngeal cancer.Cancer Res. 1993; 53: 795-798
- Use of selenium concentration in whole blood, serum, toenails, or urine as a surrogate measure of selenium intake.Epidemiology. 1996; 7: 384-390
- Epidemiology of head and neck cancer: magnitude of the problem.Cancer metastasis reviews. 2005; 24: 9-17
- A large-scale prospective cohort study on diet and cancer in The Netherlands.J Clin Epidemiol. 1990; 43: 285-295
- Analysis of case-cohort designs.J Clin Epidemiol. 1999; 52: 1165-1172
- Development of a record linkage protocol for use in the Dutch Cancer Registry for Epidemiological Research.Int J Epidemiol. 1990; 19: 553-558
- Estimation of the coverage of Dutch municipalities by cancer registries and PALGA based on hospital discharge data.Tijdschr Soc Gezondheidsz. 1994; 72: 80-84
- Head and neck cancer.Lancet. 2008; 371: 1695-1709
- Validation of a dietary questionnaire used in a large-scale prospective cohort study on diet and cancer.Eur J Clin Nutr. 1994; 48: 253-265
- Alcohol drinking in never users of tobacco, cigarette smoking in never drinkers, and the risk of head and neck cancer: pooled analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium.J Natl Cancer Inst. 2007; 99: 777-789
- International Classification of Diseases for Oncology: ICD-O.3rd ed. World Health Organization, Geneva2000
- A prospective cohort study on toenail selenium levels and risk of gastrointestinal cancer.Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 1993; 85: 224-229
- Predictors of toenail selenium levels in men and women.Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1993; 2: 107-112
- Prediagnostic toenail selenium and risk of bladder cancer.Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2002; 11: 1292-1297
- Alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking and the risk of subtypes of head-neck cancer: results from the Netherlands Cohort Study.BMC Cancer. 2014; 14: 187
- Family history of cancer: pooled analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium.Int J Cancer. 2009; 124: 394-401
- Modeling smoking history: a comparison of different approaches.Am J Epidemiol. 2002; 156: 813-823
- Partial residuals for the proportional hazards regression model.Biometrika. 1982; 69: 239-241
- Consumption of vegetables and fruits and risk of subtypes of head-neck cancer in the Netherlands Cohort Study.Int J Cancer. 2015; 136: E396-E409
- Studies on free radicals, antioxidants, and co-factors.Clin Interv Aging. 2007; 2: 219-236
Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 13, 2016
Accepted:
March 2,
2016
Received in revised form:
February 26,
2016
Received:
January 8,
2015
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
