Causes
It can occur in patients with severely compromised intestinal function, those undergoing total parenteral nutrition, those who have had gastrointestinal bypass surgery, and also on advanced aged people (over 90).
Alternatively, people dependent on food grown from selenium-deficient soil are also at risk.
For some time now in medical literature it has been noted the pattern of side-effects associated with cholesterol lowering drugs statins resembles the pathology of selenium deficiency.
Read more about this topic: Selenium Deficiency