Serum selenium was evaluated in relation to hepatic structure and function in 46 alcoholics with diagnostic liver biopsy classified into 4 groups by hepatic histology. Their serum selenium concentration varied from 12 to 88 micrograms/l and was lower (p less than 0.001) in all groups of alcoholics, ie patients with normal liver (53.0 +/- 20.7 micrograms/l, mean +/- SD), fatty liver (55.8 +/- 21.2 micrograms/l), alcoholic hepatitis (46.0 +/- 14.1 micrograms/l), and cirrhosis (41.1 +/- 12.8 micrograms/l), than in 25 healthy controls (88.7 +/- 11.0 micrograms/l). Serum selenium level was related to the severity of liver disease, and most reduced in subjects with decompensated alcoholic cirrhosis. Their serum selenium level (29.2 +/- 13.7 micrograms/l) was below (p less than 0.05) that obtained in alcoholics with normal liver and fatty liver respectively. Both inadequate dietary selenium intake and alcohol-induced changes in hepatic structure and function may have contributed to the decrease of serum selenium in the subjects studied.