Correlation Between Age And Duration Of Illness And Level Of Selenium In Bataknese Male With Schizophrenia

- World Health Organization (WHO) noted schizophrenia as one out of 10 disability leading diseases contributing to global burden of disease. It’s exact aetiologies are still elucidated, but recent studies have revealed that schizophrenia may be related to oxidative stress. Selenium, a known oxidative stress factor, consists of two forms; non-organic selenium (selenate), and organic selenium (selenometionine, selenosistein) which can be obtained from dietary intake. In this present study, we measured serum level of selenium from 50 Bataknese male with schizophrenia. Measurement was conducted by using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). We found that age and duration of illness are related to serum level of selenium (p = 0.048, r = -0.281 for age, and p = 0.039, r = -0.293 for duration of illness). Serum level of selenium was not associated with positive and negative symptom scale in Bataknese male with schizophrenia.