ASN's Mission

To create a world without kidney diseases, the ASN Alliance for Kidney Health elevates care by educating and informing, driving breakthroughs and innovation, and advocating for policies that create transformative changes in kidney medicine throughout the world.

learn more

Contact ASN

1401 H St, NW, Ste 900, Washington, DC 20005

email@asn-online.org

202-640-4660

The Latest on X

Kidney Week

Please note that you are viewing an archived section from 2019 and some content may be unavailable. To unlock all content for 2019, please visit the archives.

Abstract: SA-PO834

Low Serum Zinc Concentration Is Associated with Infection Events in CKD Patients

Session Information

Category: Health Maintenance, Nutrition, and Metabolism

  • 1300 Health Maintenance, Nutrition, and Metabolism

Authors

  • Saka, Yosuke, Kasugai Municipal Hospital, Kasugai, AIchi, Japan
  • Naruse, Tomohiko, Kasugai Municipal Hospital, Kasugai, AIchi, Japan
Background

Zinc plays an important role in immune function. Several studies reported the association between zinc deficiency and infection. Infectious disease is one of major complications in CKD patients. We investigated whether serum zinc concentration is associated with infection risk in stage 5 CKD patients.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed 232 patients in whom serum zinc concentration was measured to evaluate renal anemia between January 2013 and December 2016. Of the 232 patients, 9 patients receiving zinc supplementation at the time of measurement were excluded. We followed up the remaining participants after enrollment. The endpoint was infection-related hospitalization. The length of infection-related hospitalization was also analyzed. Participants were divided into two groups according to the median of serum zinc concentration, categorized as low or high (Zn ≤ 50 and > 50 μg/dl, respectively). Data were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox hazards models.

Results

The median follow-up period was 36 months. During follow-up, 40 patients were hospitalized due to infection. Low serum zinc concentration was associated with a higher rate of infection-related hospitalization (low vs. high: 23.3% vs. 12.6%; p=0.042), and also associated with long-term hospitalization (more than 20 days) due to infection (low vs. high: 17.9% vs. 7.2%; p=0.016). After adjustment in Cox hazards models, low serum zinc concentration remains an independent risk factor for infection-related hospitalization (HR 2.11, 95% CI 1.06–4.21, p < 0.034).

Conclusion

Patients with low serum zinc concentration are at high risk of infection-related hospitalization, which also causes long-term hospitalization.