Assessment of the role of zinc in the prevention of COVID-19 infections and mortality: A retrospective study in the Asian and European population

Abstract

Several studies have demonstrated an association between individual zinc status and viral respiratory infections; however, evidence regarding COVID-19 is still missing or insufficient. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between the prevalence of zinc deficiency and COVID-19 cases and deaths per million population in the Asian and European countries. The COVID-19 data from two different time points, that is, May 30 and June 30, 2020 for the Asian population and May 15 and June 15, 2020 for the European population, were analyzed to determine the correlation with the estimated zinc deficiency for these two continents. The prevalence of zinc deficiency was about two times higher in the Asian population (mean 17.5%) than in the European population (mean 8.9%). A significant positive correlation (p < .05) was observed between the prevalence of zinc deficiency and COVID-19 cases at both time periods for the Asian population. However, the correlation between zinc deficiency prevalence and COVID-19 deaths was not significant in the Asian population. In contrast, a significant but negative correlation (p < .05 for all cases) was observed for zinc deficiency with both COVID-19 cases and deaths per million population at both time periods in the European countries. Considering the direct antiviral properties of zinc, it can be suggested that zinc supplementation may be beneficial for most of the population, especially older people and those who are at risk of COVID-19 infections. In conclusion, there is not enough evidence on the association between individual zinc status and COVID-19 infections and mortality. Therefore, cohort studies and randomized controlled trials are required to test this hypothesis.

Keywords: COVID-19; deaths; infections; population; zinc.

Figure 1

Correlation between zinc deficiency and the number of COVID‐19 cases and deaths/1 M population in 45 Asian countries. Source: Global prevalence of zinc deficiency 2005 (https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-prevalence-of-zinc-deficiency?time=2005), and COVID‐19 cases and mortality as of May 30, 2020 (A and B) and June 30, 2020 (C and D) from worldwide COVID‐19 pandemic data portal at https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Figure 2

Correlation between zinc deficiency and the number of COVID‐19 cases and deaths/1 M population in 39 European countries. Source: Global prevalence of zinc deficiency 2005 (https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-prevalence-of-zinc-deficiency?time=2005), and COVID‐19 cases and mortality as of May 15, 2020 (A and B) and June 15, 2020 (C and D) from worldwide COVID‐19 pandemic data portal at https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/