Evaluation of Serum Zinc Levels Among Patient of Chronic Kidney Disease in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Objective: To evaluate serum zinc levels in various stages of chronic kidney disease and to compare serum zinc levels in patients of chronic kidney disease undergoing and not undergoing hemodialysis. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Chemical Pathology and Endocrinology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, in collaboration with Armed Forces Institute of Urology, Rawalpindi, Pakistan from Jan to Jun 2021. Methodology: Zinc levels of 120 individuals were analyzed on Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer and creatinine measured in serum samples. Patients were divided into five subgroups, stages 1-5, according to eGFR values. Zinc levels were expressed as Mean±SD. Independent sample t-test was used to compare serum zinc concentration of hemodialysis patients with non-hemodialysis patients and one-way ANOVA was used to compare zinc concentrations in patients with different stages of chronic kidney disease. Results: Mean age of patients was 58±17 years. Mean value of serum zinc level was 9.03±2.51 µmol/L. The level of serum zinc showed a statistically significant difference (p=0.005) at different stages of disease, with significant decreasing trend in late-stage chronic kidney disease. We found a significant difference in mean serum zinc level among hemodialysis and non-hemodialysis individuals. Conclusion: Patients of chronic kidney disease showed significant difference in serum levels of zinc across different stages. We found an increasing trend of zinc deficiency as the disease progressed, as well as with hemodialysis dependency.