{"doi":"10.7759/cureus.71609","title":"Zinc Deficiency and Post-acute Outcomes in Patients With COVID-19: A Six-Month Retrospective Cohort Analysis of 3,726 Patients","abstract":null,"journal":"Cureus","year":2024,"id":595846,"datarank":0.26876392038420827,"base_score":1.791759469228055,"endowment":1.791759469228055,"self_citation_contribution":0.26876392038420827,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.26876392038420827,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":5,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1525939,"name":"Mei-Yuan Liu","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1525940,"name":"Tsung Yu","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1525941,"name":"Kuo-Chuan Hung","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1525942,"name":"Ya-Wen Tsai","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":35983,"name":"Chih-Cheng Lai","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1525943,"name":"Jheng-Yan Wu","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1525938,"name":"Lun-Wu Hung","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Zinc Deficiency and Post-acute Outcomes in Patients With COVID-19: A Six-Month Retrospective Cohort Analysis of 3,726 Patients","abstract":"Background Previous studies have suggested that zinc deficiency (ZD) may increase the risk of short-term mortality in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the relationship between zinc status and post-acute COVID-19 outcomes remains unclear. This study aimed to determine the association between ZD and long-term outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Methodology We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the TriNetX database, including patients aged 18 years or older diagnosed with COVID-19 between January 1, 2022, and July 31, 2023. Patients had documented serum or plasma zinc levels within three months before COVID-19 diagnosis and were not deceased or hospitalized in the first month of infection. They were categorized into ZD (zinc levels <70 μg/dL) and control (zinc levels ≥70 μg/dL) groups. After 1:1 propensity score matching for demographic and clinical variables, outcomes were assessed from 30 to 180 days post-diagnosis, including all-cause hospitalization, all-cause mortality, and four subphenotypes of post-acute COVID-19. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Results After matching, each group included 1,863 patients with balanced baseline characteristics. The ZD group had a higher incidence of all-cause hospitalization (25.3% vs. 20.3%; HR = 1.314; 95% CI = 1.148-1.505; p < 0.001) and all-cause mortality (3.8% vs. 2.2%; HR = 1.735; 95% CI = 1.180-2.551; p = 0.045) compared to the control group during the follow-up period. Among the four subphenotypes, only the cardiac and renal subphenotype showed a significantly higher risk in the ZD group (HR = 1.099; 95% CI = 1.002-1.205; p = 0.004). Conclusions ZD is associated with increased risks of long-term hospitalization, mortality, and increased risk in COVID-19 patients with cardiac and renal comorbidities. Monitoring and managing zinc levels may be important for improving long-term outcomes. Further research is warranted to explore the potential benefits of zinc supplementation in COVID-19 patients with ZD.","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":1.791759469228055,"endowment":1.791759469228055,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"39553000","pmcid":"PMC11566094","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W4403462943","authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":1.1658,"citation_percentile":0.76161051,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2025,"count":2},{"year":2026,"count":3}],"oa_status":"gold","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://assets.cureus.com/uploads/original_article/pdf/310518/20241016-985259-17tn37.pdf","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://assets.cureus.com/uploads/original_article/pdf/310518/20241016-985259-17tn37.pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://www.cureus.com/articles/310518-zinc-deficiency-and-post-acute-outcomes-in-patients-with-covid-19-a-six-month-retrospective-cohort-analysis-of-3726-patients","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.71609","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39553000","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/11566094","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11566094/pdf/cureus-0016-00000071609.pdf","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC11566094","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC11566094?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"}],"fields_of_study":["Trace Elements in Health","Vitamin C and Antioxidants Research","Pharmacological Effects and Toxicity Studies"],"mesh_terms":[],"keywords":["Medicine","Retrospective cohort study","Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)","Cohort","Internal medicine","Pediatrics","Disease","Infectious disease (medical specialty)","Mortality","Zinc deficiency","Covid-19","Post-Acute Covid-19","Long Covid-19"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-27T17:57:33.093559Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}