Oral zinc supplements improve survival rate in COVID patients

A recent study by Saoussen Ben Abdallah and team showed that oral zinc can reduce the 30-day mortality rate, intensive care unit (ICU) admission rate, and symptom duration in COVID-19 patients. The findings of this study were published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic first appeared in China in late December 2019, it has caused a global health disaster. A number of medications that were first deemed successful against COVID-19's etiological agent, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), were later rejected. Coronavirus illness has been treated with zinc supplementation in the past (COVID-19). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of zinc in treating adult COVID-19 infection patients.

Patients who tested positive for COVID-19 but did not have end-organ failure were randomized to either oral zinc for 15 days (n = 231) or a placebo (n = 239). Death due to COVID-19 or intensive care unit admission within 30 days after randomization was the main composite outcome. The duration of COVID-19 symptoms with COVID-19-related hospitalization for outpatients and the length of hospital stay for inpatients were considered secondary outcomes.

The key findings of this study were:

1. 280 patients (59.6%) were hospitalized, whereas 280 patients (40.4%) were ambulatory.

2. The zinc group's 30-day mortality rate was 6.5%, whereas the placebo group was 9.2%. ICU admission rates were, in turn, 5.2% and 11.3%.

3. In comparison to the placebo group, the zinc group's overall result was worse.

4. Patients under 65, those with concomitant conditions, and those who required oxygen treatment at baseline all showed consistent outcomes.

5. In the inpatient group, the zinc group's hospital stay was shorter than that of the placebo group; in the outpatient group, the duration of COVID-19 symptoms was shorter with zinc medication than it was with placebo.

6. Throughout the research, no significant adverse effects were noticed.

In conclusion, In patients with COVID-19, 15 days of oral zinc therapy is related with a roughly 40% decrease in mortality and ICU hospitalization, as well as a shortening of symptom duration. In the absence of a targeted, efficient curative therapy, these data have significant therapeutic implications.

Reference:

Ben Abdallah, S., Mhalla, Y., Trabelsi, I., Sekma, A., Youssef, R., Bel Haj Ali, K., Ben Soltane, H., Yacoubi, H., Msolli, M. A., Stambouli, N., Beltaief, K., Grissa, M. H., Hezbri, K., Belguith, A., … Nouira, S. (2022). Twice-Daily Oral Zinc in the Treatment of Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Randomized Double-Blind Controlled Trial. In Clinical Infectious Diseases. Oxford University Press (OUP). https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciac807