A Case-Control Study for the Effectiveness of Oral Zinc in the Prevention and Mitigation of COVID-19

{ 'indexed': { 'date-parts': [[2021, 12, 21]], 'date-time': '2021-12-21T13:54:19Z', 'timestamp': 1640094859412}, 'reference-count': 28, 'publisher': 'Frontiers Media SA', 'license': [ { 'start': { 'date-parts': [[2021, 12, 13]], 'date-time': '2021-12-13T00:00:00Z', 'timestamp': 1639353600000}, 'content-version': 'vor', 'delay-in-days': 0, 'URL': 'https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/'}], 'content-domain': {'domain': ['frontiersin.org'], 'crossmark-restriction': True}, 'short-container-title': ['Front. Med.'], 'abstract': '<jats:p><jats:bold>Background:</jats:bold> The ongoing coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) ' 'pandemic (caused by an infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-coronavirus ' '(CoV-2) has put a burden on the medical community and society at large. Efforts to reduce the ' 'disease burden and mortality over the course of the pandemic have focused on research to ' 'rapidly determine age-stratified seroepidemiologic surveys, a centralized research program to ' 'fast-track the most promising rapid diagnostics and serologic assays, and the testing of ' 'potential anti-viral agents, immunologic therapies, and vaccine candidates. Despite the lack ' 'of official recognition for the role of nutrition in the fight against COVID-19 infection, ' 'multiple groups proposed zinc supplementation as an adjuvant for the management of ' 'participants.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Method:</jats:bold> In an ambulatory, ' 'interventional, prospective, single-blind study, we evaluated the effectiveness of zinc ' 'supplementation in the prevention and mitigation of COVID-19 in two similar participant ' 'groups. In Clinic A (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 104) participants were randomized to ' 'receive 10 mg, 25 mg, or 50 mg zinc picolinate daily, and Clinic B control participants ' 'paired according to their demographics and clinical parameters (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> ' '= 96). All participants were compared based on demographics, clinical comorbidities, blood ' 'counts, renal functions, vitamin D levels, and their development of symptomatic COVID-19 ' 'infection.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Results:</jats:bold> Symptomatic COVID-19 infection was ' 'significantly higher among the control group participants (<jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 9, ' '10.4%) than the treatment participants (<jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 2, 1.9%), ' '<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.015. The unadjusted odds ratio indicates that symptomatic ' 'COVID-19 infection was 5.93 [95% CI: 1.51, 39.26] higher in the control group, ' '<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.01. Controlling for co-morbidities, individuals in ' 'the control group were 7.38 (95% CI: 1.80, 50.28) times more likely to develop symptomatic ' 'COVID-19 infection as compared with individuals in the treatment group ' '(<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.01). For every-one unit increase in the number of ' 'co-morbidities, the likelihood of developing symptomatic COVID-19 infection increased 1.57 ' '(95% CI: 1.16, 2.19) (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = ' '0.01).</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Discussion:</jats:bold> The findings from our study suggest ' 'that zinc supplementation in all three doses (10, 25, and 50 mg) may be an effective ' 'prophylaxis of symptomatic COVID-19 and may mitigate the severity of COVID-19 ' 'infection.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Conclusion:</jats:bold> Zinc is a relatively ' 'inexpensive mineral nutrient that is an effective prophylactic agent to prevent and mitigate ' 'the potentially deadly symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues ' 'with a lag in vaccinations in some regions and the continued emergence of dangerously ' 'infectious variants of SARS-CoV-2, it is important to replicate our data in other populations ' 'and locations and to engage public health and nutrition services on the emergent need to use ' 'zinc supplantation or fortification of staple foods in the prevention and mitigation of ' 'COVID-19 infection severity.</jats:p>', 'DOI': '10.3389/fmed.2021.756707', 'type': 'journal-article', 'created': { 'date-parts': [[2021, 12, 13]], 'date-time': '2021-12-13T05:13:28Z', 'timestamp': 1639372408000}, 'update-policy': 'http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/crossmark-policy', 'source': 'Crossref', 'is-referenced-by-count': 0, 'title': [ 'A Case-Control Study for the Effectiveness of Oral Zinc in the Prevention and Mitigation of ' 'COVID-19'], 'prefix': '10.3389', 'volume': '8', 'author': [ {'given': 'Antonio M.', 'family': 'Gordon', 'sequence': 'first', 'affiliation': []}, {'given': 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