COVID-19: Poor outcomes in patients with zinc deficiency
Dinesh Jothimani, Ezhilarasan Kailasam, Silas Danielraj, Balaji Nallathambi, Hemalatha Ramachandran, Padmini Sekar, Shruthi Manoharan, Vidyalakshmi Ramani, Gomathy Narasimhan, Ilankumaran Kaliamoorthy, Mohamed Rela
International Journal of Infectious Diseases, doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2020.09.014
Background: Zinc is a trace element with potent immunoregulatory and antiviral properties, and is utilized in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 . However, we do not know the clinical significance of serum Zinc levels in COVID-19 patients. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical significance of serum zinc in COVID-19 patients and to establish a correlation with disease severity. Methods: This was a prospective study of fasting zinc levels in COVID-19 patients at the time of hospitalization. An initial comparative analysis was conducted between COVID-19 patients and healthy controls. COVID-19 patients with zinc deficiency were compared to those with normal zinc levels. Results: COVID-19 patients (n = 47) showed significantly lower zinc levels when compared to healthy controls (n = 45): median 74.5 (interquartile range 53.4-94.6) mg/dl vs 105.8 (interquartile range 95.65-120.90) mg/dl (p < 0.001). Amongst the COVID-19 patients, 27 (57.4%) were found to be zinc deficient. These patients were found to have higher rates of complications (p = 0.009), acute respiratory distress syndrome (18.5% vs 0%, p = 0.06), corticosteroid therapy (p = 0.02), prolonged hospital stay (p = 0.05), and increased mortality (18.5% vs 0%, p = 0.06). The odds ratio (OR) of developing complications was 5.54 for zinc deficient COVID-19 patients. Conclusions: The study data clearly show that a significant number of COVID-19 patients were zinc deficient. These zinc deficient patients developed more complications, and the deficiency was associated with a prolonged hospital stay and increased mortality.
Conflict of interest
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