Index Entries

Dinesh Jothimani, Ezhilarasan Kailasam, Silas Danielraja, Balaji Nallathambia, Hemalatha Ramachandrana, Padmini Sekara, Shruthi Manoharanc, Vidyalakshmi Ramanic, Gomathy Narasimhana, Ilankumaran Kaliamoorthya, and Mohamed Rela
September 10, 2020
International Journal of Infectious Diseases
Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research (India)

Highlights:

  • Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had significantly low zinc levels in comparison to healthy controls.
  • Zinc deficient patients developed more complications (70.4% vs 30.0%, p = 0.009).
  • Zinc deficient COVID-19 patients had a prolonged hospital stay (7.9 vs 5.7 days, p = 0.048).
  • In vitro studies have shown that reduced zinc levels favour the interaction of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein and likewise that increased zinc levels inhibit ACE2 expression resulting in reduced viral interaction.

Results: … 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).”

document
COVID-19,medical treatments,nutraceuticals,zinc