Association of Serum Zinc and Inflammatory Markers with the Severity of COVID-19 Infection in Adult Patients
Almasaud et al.,
Association of Serum Zinc and Inflammatory Markers with the Severity of COVID-19 Infection in Adult Patients,
Nutrients, doi:10.3390/nu15020340
Prospective study of 123 COVID+ patients and 48 controls, showing significantly lower zinc levels in COVID-19 patients, and a negative correlation between zinc levels and COVID-19 severity. Moderate and severe cases were significantly older, however the negative correlation remained significant after adjusting for age.
Almasaud et al., 10 Jan 2023, prospective, Saudi Arabia, peer-reviewed, 8 authors, study period 25 June, 2020 - 3 March, 2022.
Contact:
iqbalja@ngha.med.sa (corresponding author).
Abstract: nutrients
Article
Association of Serum Zinc and Inflammatory Markers with the
Severity of COVID-19 Infection in Adult Patients
Abdulaziz Saad Almasaud, Jamal Chalabi, Abdulmajid Al Arfaj, Ali Al Qarni
Sana Akhtar and Jahangir Iqbal *
, Ammar Alkroud, Zuheb Nagoor,
King Abdulaziz Hospital, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center-Eastern Region,
King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs,
Al Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
* Correspondence: iqbalja@ngha.med.sa
Citation: Almasaud, A.S.; Chalabi, J.;
Abstract: COVID-19 infection can spread in the host body without any adequate immune response.
Zinc is an essential trace element with strong immunoregulatory and antiviral properties and its
deficiency might lead to inflammation and oxidative stress. The aim of the current study was to
determine the association of serum zinc and inflammatory markers with the severity of COVID-19
infection. This was a prospective observational study in which 123 COVID-19-positive adult patients
and 48 controls were recruited. The initial comparative analysis was conducted between COVID-19
patients and controls. COVID-19-positive patients were further divided into three different groups
(mild, moderate, and severe) based on the severity of COVID-19 infection. COVID-19 patients
showed significantly lower serum zinc levels (8.8 ± 2.3 µmol/L) compared to healthy controls
(11.9 ± 1.8 µmol/L). There was a negative correlation between serum zinc levels and the severity
of COVID-19 infection (r = −0.584, p < 0.0001) and this effect was independent of age (r = −0.361,
p < 0.0001). Furthermore, inflammatory markers showed a positive correlation with the severity of
COVID-19 infection and a negative correlation with the levels of serum zinc. The study demonstrated
an association between COVID-19 infection with low serum zinc levels and elevated inflammatory
markers. Further studies to assess the significance of this observation are needed, which may justify
zinc supplementation to mitigate the severity of COVID-19 infection.
Arfaj, A.A.; Qarni, A.A.; Alkroud, A.;
Nagoor, Z.; Akhtar, S.; Iqbal, J.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; zinc; inflammatory markers; viral infection
Association of Serum Zinc and
Inflammatory Markers with the
Severity of COVID-19 Infection in
Adult Patients. Nutrients 2023, 15, 340.
https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15020340
Academic Editors: Carlo Agostoni
and Gregorio Paolo Milani
Received: 23 October 2022
Revised: 6 November 2022
Accepted: 9 November 2022
Published: 10 January 2023
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
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