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ISDS 2012 Conference Abstracts

Serum Zinc Concentration and Acute Diarrhea in
Children from Different Regions of Uzbekistan
Gulnara A. Ibadova*, T. A. Merkushina, E. S. Abdumutalova and Aybek V. Khodiev

Infectious and Parasitic Diseases of Children, Tashkent Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education, Tashkent City, Uzbekistan

Objective
To study the blood serum zinc concentration in children with acute

diarrhea (AD) in in-patient facilities before and after therapy.

Introduction
There are several reports of zinc deficiency in pathogenesis of

acute and chronic diarrhea. The literature review showed children
with diarrhea and chronic gastroduodenitis performed zinc deficiency
in majority of cases (1). The normal values of zinc in blood serum are
12.8-27.8 µmol/l (2). There is a threshold of 13µmol/l zinc concen-
tration for zinc deficiency diagnosis. The zinc level 8.2 µmol/l and
below is poor prognostic criteria (3).

Methods
Totally 102 children (1-14 years old) with AD in in-patient facil-

ity from different regions were studied for serum zinc concentration
before and after treatment. Termez and Saraosie cities are located in
south of Uzbekistan, in the region with high negative impact from
the nearly Tajikistan located aluminum producing plant. The serum
zinc level measured by neutron-activation method in the Institute of
Nuclear Research (INR).

Results
The zinc concentration in serum significantly varied by the region

(Table 1).
The level of zinc in children from Tashkent estimated at lower nor-

mal limit with reduction below normal values after treatment. Chil-
dren from Termez during admission to the in-patient facilities were
zinc deficient with further reduction to the poor prognostic level.
Children in Saraosie admitted to the in-patient with significant zinc
deficiency that remained on poor prognostic level after treatment.

Conclusions
The study results may indicate the treatment of AD in children do

not replenish the zinc to the appropriate level. Though some con-

founding factors may contribute the observed zinc disorders the re-
sults may indicate environmental factors, such as pollution by alu-
minum producing plant emission to contribute the difference in zinc
concentration and should be considered for the correction and treat-
ment of AD in children.

Table 1.The serum zinc concentration in children with acute diarrhea from
different regions of Uzbekistan before and after treatment.

Keywords
Acute diarrhea; zinc; zinc deficiency

Acknowledgments

Authors express their gratitude to the staff of Institute of Nuclear Re-
search.

References

1. Brooks WA, Santosham M, Roy SK, Faruque ASG, Wahed MA, Nahar
K, Khan AI, Khan a F, Fuchs GJ, Black RE. Efficacy of zinc in young
infants with acute watery diarrhea. [Internet]. The American journal
of clinical nutrition 2005 Sep;82(3):605–10.Available from:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16155274

2. Ackland ML, Michalczyk A. Zinc deficiency and its inherited disor-
ders -a review. [Internet]. Genes & nutrition 2006 Mar;1(1):41–
9.Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18850219

3. Karlinskiy VM. Zinc deficiency syndrome. Nutrition issues 1980;1:10–
18.

*Gulnara A. Ibadova
E-mail: prof.Ibadova@mail.ru

Online Journal of Public Health Informatics * ISSN 1947-2579 * http://ojphi.org * 5(1):e181, 2013