Observational studyEuropean journal of pediatrics2022
Serum zinc levels in pediatric patients with COVID-19.
Observational study in European journal of pediatrics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Association Between Antioxidants and COVID-19 Outcomes: a Systematic Review on Observational Studies.Biological trace element research · 2023Pooled it
- Association of zinc deficiency and clinical symptoms, inflammatory markers, severity of COVID-19 in hospitalized children.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Zinc Deficiency Associated With an Increase in Mortality in COVID-19 Patients: A Meta-Analysis.Cureus · 2025Review
- Analysis of Ferritin, Hepcidin, Zinc, C-Reactive Protein and IL-6 Levels in COVID-19 in Patients Living at Different Altitudes in Peru.Biomedicines · 2024Article
- The Role of Zinc in Developed Countries in Pediatric Patients: A 360-Degree View.Biomolecules · 2024Review
- Article
- A systematic review: The relationship of COVID-19 to iron, zinc, and vitamin D.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2023Article
- Inhibitory Effect of Zinc on Colorectal Cancer by Granzyme B Transcriptional Regulation in Cytotoxic T Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Free Zinc as a Predictive Marker for COVID-19 Mortality Risk.Nutrients · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Zinc has potent immunoregulatory and antiviral effects that are critical for growth, immunity, and neurologic development. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical significance of serum zinc levels in pediatric patients with COVID-19 and to demonstrate its association with disease severity. This prospective observational study was conducted between August 3 and November 15, 2020, in pediatric patients aged 1 month to 18 years with confirmed COVID-19 using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. We defined a control group whose serum zinc levels were determined 1 year ago at the same time as those of patients with COVID-19. We used 70 μg/dL as the cut-off zinc value to define zinc deficiency. Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS for Windows statistics package program. One hundred children with confirmed COVID-19 and 269 children in the control group participated in the study. The median age was 13.3 (IQR: 8-15.4) years in patients with confirmed COVID-19, 11 patients had low serum zinc levels, and 89 patients had normal serum zinc levels. Patients in the group with low zinc levels had a significantly higher hospitalization rate than the group with normal zinc levels (5 (45.5%) and 10 patients (11.2%), respectively) (p = 0.011). The median serum zinc level in patients with COVID-19 was 88.5 mcg/dL (IQR 77.2-100), which was significantly lower than the median level in the control group, which was 98 mcg/dL (IQR 84-111) (p = 0.001). There was no association between the severity of COVID-19 and the serum zinc levels of the children.
conclusionSerum zinc levels may be influenced by many factors such as fasting status, diurnal variation, exercise, and sex, and may give an impression of the zinc status of the population rather than reflecting the individual. The fact that the incidence of hospitalization was significantly higher in patients with both COVID-19 and low serum zinc levels suggests that these patients require a detailed assessment of their living environment. WHAT IS KNOWN: • Serum zinc levels have been found to be low in adult patients diagnosed with COVID-19. • There was a correlation between the severity of COVID-19 and serum zinc levels in adults. WHAT IS NEW: • Children with low serum zinc levels were found to have a higher number of hospitalizations. • No association was found between the severity of COVID-19 disease and serum zinc levels in children.
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