Low Serum Zinc Level is Associated with Urinary Tract Infection in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

To review the relationship between serum zinc (Zn) levels and urinary tract infections (UTIs) in children. Databases with published papers from 2015 up to July 2025 from PubMed Central, SpringerLink, EBSCOhost, and ScienceDirect were used in this investigation. The data were processed quantitatively using the Review Manager 5.4 software application. The risk of bias qualitatively was assessed using the New Ottawa Scale and Agency for Health Research and Quality requirements as the threshold. Four out of five studies (80%) reported that lower levels of Zn were found in children with UTIs compared to control subjects. Our analysis results showed that there was an inverse correlation between serum Zn levels and UTIs in children [p<0.0001; mean difference: -10.49, 95% confidence interval (-13.32 to -7.66)]. Low serum Zn levels correlated significantly with UTIs in children.