Zinc status in well nourished Bangladeshi children suffering from acute lower respiratory infection.

ABSTRACT

This study was done to investigate the association of zinc status of well nourished Bangladeshi children with Acute Lower Respiratory Infection (ALRI). In this case control study, simultaneous estimation of serum and hair zinc was performed in 35 well nourished children, aged 6-60 months suffering from ALRI and 38 normal matched controls. Serum zinc was low in children suffering from ALRI as compared to control (90 +/- 51 pg/dL vs 176 +/- 98 pg/dL, OR 6, 95% CI 1.83, 19.66;P <0.05) children. Hair zinc was also found significantly low in children suffering from ALRI as compared to control (158 + 48 1g/g vs 247 154 pg/g, OR 3, 95% CI 1.46, 10.04, P < 0.05). We conclude that Bangladeshi children suffering from pneumonia, have decreased levels of serum and hair zinc.