Zinc Deficiency is Associated with Poor Glycemic Control.

Abstract

To assess the level of zinc in type 2 diabetes mellitus and its relation to glycemic control. Descriptive cross-sectional study. Department of Medicine, Dallah Hospital, Riyadh, KSA, from May 2014 to June 2015. 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. 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. This study concluded that low zinc level was associated with Type 2 DM, and serum zinc level was negatively associated with poor glycemic control.