Gestational diabetes is a common medical disorder in pregnancy. There is a growing body of evidence of the association between zinc, selenium status and diabetes mellitus during pregnancy. A case-control study was conducted at Medani Hospital, Sudan, to compare zinc and selenium levels in pregnant women with gestational diabetes and normal pregnant women (controls). The two groups (31 in each arm) were well-matched in age, parity, gestational age, haemoglobin and body mass index. Zinc and selenium levels were measured using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. There were no significant differences in the median (interquartile) zinc (498.9 [395-703] vs 486.4 [404-667] μg/l, p = 0.905) and selenium (164.4 [61-415] vs 204 [68-541] μg/l, p = 0.838) values between the two groups. There were no significant correlations between zinc and selenium, or between these trace elements and body mass index, gestational age and blood glucose levels.

The epidemiology of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) is important for health planners and service providers. A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the seroprevalence and associated risk factors for markers of HBV (HBsAg) and anti-HCV among hemodialysis patients at the Ahmed Gasim hemodialysis unit, Sudan. Structured questionnaires were used to obtain socio-demographic data and sera were tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibody to HCV (anti-HCV). Of the 353 patients enrolled in the study, HBsAg and anti-HCV were detected in 16 (4.5%) and 30 (8.5%) patients, respectively. None of the patients were co-infected with HBV and HCV. Multivariate analysis showed that duration of dialysis was significantly associated with anti-HCV seropositivity [OR = 1.1, 95% CI = 1.2-1.3; P = 0.024]. No other socio-demographic or clinical characteristics (age, sex, level of education, history of surgery, and number of units of blood transfused) were significantly associated with HBsAg or anti-HCV seropositivity. The results of this study suggest that HBsAg and anti-HCV have low prevalence among hemodialysis patients in Khartoum. Longer duration of dialysis was a risk factor for anti-HCV.

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Several studies have investigated the association between selenium levels and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM); however, their results are not conclusive. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to update and draw conclusions regarding the evidence from published studies that investigated selenium levels in relation to GDM. PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library and ScienceDirect were searched for studies related to selenium and GDM, published from the inception of each database through to July 2022. The meta-analysis was conducted by measuring the standardized mean difference (SMD) between the selenium levels of women with GDM and those pregnant without GDM (control group). Stratified meta-analysis, meta-regression analysis and reporting bias were applied. The “meta” package in the open-access software R was used to analyze all of the data. A total of 12 studies, including 940 pregnant women with GDM and 1749 controls met this study’s inclusion criteria. The selenium levels were significantly lower in women with GDM compared with the control group (SMD = −0.66; 95% confidence interval (CI): (−1.04, −0.28); p ≤ 0.001). Due to significant heterogeneity (I2 = 94%, Cochrane Q = 186.7; p ≤ 0.0001), the random-effects model was followed. The stratified meta-analysis showed that the selenium levels were lower in the cases compared with the normal controls in the third trimester (SMD = −1.85 (−3.03, −0.66); p ≤ 0.01). The same trend was observed in the studies published before the year 2014 (SMD = −0.99 (−1.70, −0.28); p ≤0.01) and those published in or after 2014 (SMD = −0.45 (−0.90, 0.00); p = 0.05). None of the investigated covariates in the meta-regression analysis (each study’s geographic location, trimester of selenium quantification, World Bank economic classification, method of selenium determination, study design, study quality score, publication year and study’s sample size) were significantly associated with the selenium SMD. The current evidence indicates that selenium levels are lower among women with GDM in comparison to those without GDM; however, after the correction of the reporting bias, the result was no longer significant. Further studies with more prospective designs are needed to confirm this evidence and explain the function of selenium in GDM throughout pregnancy.