Evaluation of serum zinc status in hospitalized children aged 1-4 years with pneumonia and gastroenteritis in Zahedan

Background: Since Zinc deficiency stunts growth of children and increases the incidence of
infection specially in young children, we decided to perform this research on the serum level of zinc
and it’s relation with two diseases (Pneumonia, Gastroenteritis) in 1-4 year old children in Ali-
Asghar Hospital in Zahedan.
Methods and Materials: The study is a case-control study which performed on 204 children (1-4
y) that divided into 3 equal groups of 68 persons (control ,Pneumonia ,G.E) through Aban 1381 till
Ordibehesht 1382. The control group was selected from healthy children and the cases were
selected from admitted children with pneumonia and or gastroenteritis. We excluded the cases
which had severe malnutrition, Co-infected with pneumonia and G.E. or co- infected with other
diseases or consumed zinc supplement. The serum zinc level was measured by the Atomic
Absorption method in chemistry college of S &B University of Zahedan and collected data were
analyzed by means of one way analysis of variance and Fisher and Turkey exam using SPSS
software.
Results: Of 204 studied children, 59% (120) were boy and 41% (84) were girl. The mean age of
the children in study was (2.71±1.38 Y) in control group, (2.55±1.32 Y), in pneumonia group:
(2.84±1.32 Y) in gastroenteritis group. The results of this study revealed that the mean serum zinc
level in children with Pneumonia was 70.5± 10.95 microgram/dl, in children with G.E. was 73.12 ±
9.09 micro/dl and in control group was 94.9±11.96 micro/dl. This differences is valuable
(P=0.000) in statistical study, also there is no valuable differences in serum zinc level between
Pneumonia and G.E. groups and no valuable differences found in sex and age between two groups
of case and
control group.
Conclusions: The findings of this study show that serum zinc level in under 5-years-old children
(<5 Y) with pneumonia or G.E is low, and zinc deficiency can increase frequency of pneumonia and
gastroenteritis and it is expected that intervention programmed with zinc fortified food or zinc
supplementations to children under 5Y in areas with zinc deficiency, can decrease rate of
pneumonia and G.E.