Zinc deficiency correlates with severity of diabetic polyneuropathy

• Published in: Brain and behavior Vol. 11; no. 10; pp. e2349 - n/a
• Main Authors: Hussein, Mona, Fathy, Wael, Hassan, Amr, Elkareem, Rehab Abd, Marzouk, Salma, Kamal, Yasmine Shawki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.10.2021; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Case-Control Studies; Diabetes; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - complications; Diabetic Neuropathies; Diabetic neuropathy; diabetic polyneuropathy; Glycated Hemoglobin; Hemoglobin; Humans; Insulin resistance; Laboratories; Lipid peroxidation; MNSI score; NSC score; Original Research; Pain; Peripheral neuropathy; Variance analysis; Velocity; Zinc; United States > US; Michigan; NSC score; diabetic polyneuropathy; zinc; MNSI score
• ISSN: 2162-3279; 2162-3279
• DOI: 10.1002/brb3.2349

Objectives There are controversies about the role of zinc in the development of both types 1 and 2 diabetes. The aim of this study was to assess serum zinc level in diabetic patients with and without peripheral neuropathy in comparison to healthy controls and to explore the possible relationship between serum zinc level and severity of peripheral neuropathy. Methods This case control study was conducted on 120 subjects: 40 patients fulfilled the criteria for diagnosis of probable diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN), 40 diabetic patients without polyneuropathy (N‐DPN) and 40 healthy controls. DPN patients were submitted to clinical assessment of diabetic neuropathy using neuropathy symptom and change (NSC) scale, Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument Physical Assessment (MNSI) scale and electrophysiological assessment using nerve conduction study. Zinc serum level was measured in all subjects included in this study using direct colorimetric test method. Results Diabetic patients with and without neuropathy were found to have significantly lower mean values of serum zinc than healthy controls (p = .025,  .03 respectively). There is a statistically significant negative correlation between zinc serum level and hemoglobin A1C (HA1C) (p ˂ .001), NSC score (p = .001) and MNSI score (p = .003) in DPN group. There were also statistically significant correlations between zinc serum level and nerve conduction study values. Conclusion Zinc deficiency significantly correlates with the severity of DPN and glycemic control. The main conclusion of this study is that zinc deficiency significantly correlates with the severity of DPN and glycemic control. Moreover, diabetic patients with and without neuropathy have significantly lower zinc level than healthy controls.