Serum Zinc And Copper Levels In Critically Ill Pediatric Patients In Intensive Care Unit:

Asmaa Fahim Fadi Hussiny

In our study, we attempted to investigate the level serum zinc of children admitted to intensive care unit based on the hypothesis of that zinc defeciency has been linked with critical illness.We conclude that there is correlation between Serum zinc in children admitted to intensive care unit matched with controls. We found also an association between zinc level and the degree of organ failure. Patients with two or more organ failures had significantly lower plasma zinc concentration compared with patients with one organ failure.Whether zinc Deficiency increased susceptibility to infection through reduction in cellular immunity is a matter that still needs further evaluation. .Our recommendations are the following1- Health education programs through schools, mass media as television.2- Survey study for discovering certain areas with zinc deficiency.3- Early detection of zinc deficiency in people with high risk group.4- Zinc supplementation and its efficacy.5-Further studies may be performed on a larger scale in Egyptian children with critical illnesses to evaluate their zinc status to further investigate the magnitude of the problem in Egypt.