Serum zinc level in patients with pneumonia: a six-month long cross-sectional descriptive study at Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan.

To determine the serum zinc level in patients with pneumonia. The descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad, Pakistan, from September 2008 to February 2009. All patients above 12 years of age and of either gender who had been diagnosed with pneumonia were further evaluated for their serum zinc status.The data was analysed through SPSS 10.00, and p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. The mean age of the 118 patients in the study was 25.64 +/- 6.53 years. The mean serum zinc level was 8.279 +/- 2.77 mmol/L, while the mean serum zinc levels in patients having low and normal levels was 6.740 +/- 1.47 mmol/L and 13.243 +/- 1.52 mmol/L respectively (p<0.001). The serum zinc was low in 42 of the 72 (58%) males, and 35 of the 46 (76%) females (p<0.04). There was also significant difference between mean serum zinc level in male and female patients (p<0.03). Out of 77 (65%) hypozincaemic patients, 69 (90%) recovered, while 08 (10%) failed to recover) during their hospital stay (p<0.33). Of the 69 who recovered, 29 (42%) patients did so in less than 2 weeks, while 40 (58%) patients recovered in more than 02 weeks. Serum zinc level was found to be low in patients with pneumonia.