EXPRESS: Effects of Selenium Supplementation on Cognitive Function in Patients with Hyperthyroidism Caused by Graves' disease: A Randomized Prospective Study.

Authors

Jianli Huang, Li Liu, Wenfu Tao, Jiayu Luo, Jinyue Meng, Yuanyuan Lin, Guangjing Huang, Hui Wei, Xuemei Huang

Published in

Journal of investigative medicine : the official publication of the American Federation for Clinical Research. Pages 10815589261497366. Oct 07, 2026. Epub Oct 07, 2026.

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of selenium supplementation on cognitive function in patients with Graves' hyperthyroidism.
A total of 124 newly diagnosed patients with Graves' hyperthyroidism and with a baseline Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score < 26 were recruited. Participants were randomly assigned to either the conventional treatment group (n = 62) or the combined treatment group (n = 62). Cognitive and biochemical assessments were conducted at baseline and at 4, 8, and 12 weeks post-intervention. The primary outcomes were MoCA score and blood selenium concentration. Secondary outcomes included total triiodothyronine (TT3), total thyroxine (TT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyroid receptor antibodies (TRAb).
At the 4th, 8th and 12th weeks of follow-up, the MoCA scores, blood selenium concentrations and TSH levels in the combined treatment group were significantly higher than those in the conventional treatment group (all p < 0.05), whereas TRAb levels were significantly lower (p < 0.05). Linear mixed-effects modeling revealed statistically significant group × time interactions for MoCA scores (β = 1.914, 95% CI: 1.152-2.018, p = 0.012), blood selenium concentrations (β = 21.132, 95% CI: 18.302-30.171, p < 0.001), TRAb levels (β = -3.286, 95% CI: -5.575- -1.120, p < 0.001) and TSH levels (β = 1.136, 95% CI: 0.812-1.398, p < 0.001). Linear correlation analysis demonstrated that changes in blood selenium concentrations from baseline to at week 12 were moderately positively correlated with changes in MoCA scores (r = 0.538, p < 0.001), moderately negatively correlated with changes in FT4 levels (r = -0.437, p < 0.001), and strongly negatively correlated with changes in TRAb levels (r = - 0.722, p < 0.001). Partial correlation analysis confirmed that changes in blood selenium concentrations remained significantly negatively associated with changes in TRAb levels (r = - 0.690, p < 0.001). Furthermore, binary logistic regression analysis indicated that improvement in cognitive function among patients with Graves' hyperthyroidism was significantly associated with treatment modality (OR = 0.046, 95% CI: 0.017-0.123, p < 0.001).
Selenium supplementation therapy confers significant cognitive benefits in patients with Graves' hyperthyroidism.

PMID:
42844756
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 08 Oct 2026.

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