Selenium Levels in Hair
Table 4 represents our findings of selenium levels in hair. Hair selenium levels were not normally distributed and log selenium levels were also not normally distributed therefore a non-parametric analysis was undertaken. The median (range) selenium content was 0.80 ppm (0.19–4.15) and 0.68 ppm (0.43–3.76) in patients and controls respectively (Mann Whitney U test 209.5 p = 0.74). There was no significant difference in hair selenium levels between the two groups. Figure 1 demonstrates that there is an outlier with a very high selenium concentration of 20.4 ppm. A review of this patient's questionnaire revealed that she was the only subject who had used henna hair products in the preceding six months and this result was excluded from the analysis. This patient fell into the lower income category and her dietary history did not show any difference in any food consumption. The concentrations from 3 Recurrent pregnancy loss and 1 control subject fell below the limit of detection. These 4 values together with the one outlier were excluded from the statistical analysis.