Zinc Deficiency is Associated with Poor Glycemic Control.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the level of zinc in type 2 diabetes mellitus and its relation to glycemic control.

STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive cross-sectional study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Department of Medicine, Dallah Hospital, Riyadh, KSA, from May 2014 to June 2015.

METHODOLOGY: This study employed 200 diabetic and 192 control subjects. The demographic data was taken from all 392 subjects; and laboratory investigations like, fasting blood sugar (FBS), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C), and serum zinc level were done. The groups were divided into diabetic and control, normal zinc group (>70 mcg/dL) and low zinc group (<70 mcg/dL) levels.

RESULTS: The mean age for low zinc group was 51.99 +10.51 years and for normal zinc group 52.87 +10.29 years (p=0.408). The male to female ratio was 0.93:1 in low zinc group and 1.3:1 in normal zinc group (p=0.082). The mean serum zinc was significantly lower in diabetic patients (66.54 +11.328 mcg/dL) than in healthy subjects (82.63 +12.194 mcg/dL, p<0.001). The mean FBS was 139.84 +30.68 mg/dL in low zinc level group in contrast to 104.88 +26.12 mg/dL in normal zinc level group (p<0.001). The mean HbA1c was 8.91 +2.16% in low zinc level group in contrast to 5.696 +2.3 in normal zinc level group (p<0.001). The serum zinc level was negatively associated with FBS and HbA1c.

CONCLUSION: This study concluded that low zinc level was associated with Type 2 DM, and serum zinc level was negatively associated with poor glycemic control.