Serum Zinc Status and Its Association with Allergic Sensitization: The Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Abstract

Zinc (Zn) is an essential trace element that plays important roles in the immune system. There is little known about the role of trace elements in allergic diseases, and previous reports have shown conflicting results. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between serum Zn levels and total or allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels. The initial candidates for this study were those who participated in the 5th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2010 (n = 8,958), and 1,867 adults who had serum total and allergen specific-IgE levels measured were included. Upon adjusting for covariates, mean total IgE, Dermatophagoides farinae and dog-specific IgE levels increased significantly as the Zn levels decrease from the highest to the lowest quartile (p = 0.009, 0.004, and < 0.001, respectively). The multiple logistic regression analyses showed significant negative linear correlations between serum Zn levels and total, D. farinae-, cockroach-, and dog-specific IgE levels (p-value for linear trend = 0.004, 0.006, 0.027, and < 0.001, respectively). This study demonstrated that total/allergen specific IgE and Zn levels are significantly inversely related.

Zinc and atopic dermatitis: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…. Fifteen studies were included in the review: 11 case–control, 1 cross‐sectional, 1 cohort, and 1 RCT, as well as 1 study that combined a case–control study with a subsequent RCT …”

“…Three studies were from the United Kingdom; two each from Hong Kong, South Korea, Turkey and Japan; and one each from Bangladesh, Egypt and Italy. Nine studies included only children, three included only adults, and two included children and adults . Only three studies included participants over the age of 35 years, and only two studies focused on children aged under 5 years .…”

“…Eight of the 15 included observational studies and RCTs used predefined criteria for AD: five used Hanifin and Rajka's criteria, two used the Japanese Dermatologic Society Diagnostic criteria, and one used consensus conference criteria . No specific criteria were used in the remaining seven studies with one study relying on self‐report . Two studies also took IgE measurements into consideration …”

“…For ascertainment of exposure, all studies used an objective measure of zinc determination and the same method was used for cases and controls, but no studies provided non‐response rates or described non‐respondents. For assessment of outcome, the cross‐sectional study relied on self‐report of AD, whereas the cohort study used independent blind assessment but only followed participants up to 10 months of age …”

“…1. Fifteen studies were included in the review: 11 case-control, 26-36 1 cross-sectional, 37 1 cohort, 38 and 1 RCT, 39 as well as 1 study that combined a case-control study with a subsequent RCT. 40 The main characteristics of the 14 observational studies included in the review are summarized in Table 1.…”