Background
The aim of this study was to define the status of preoperative zinc levels in patients
with heart disease presenting for cardiac surgery and to identify any predictors for
and any clinical consequences of low zinc levels.
Methods
Adult patients presenting for elective surgery, either coronary artery bypass graft
surgery and/or valve replacement, provided a fasting blood sample on the day of admission
for surgery. Plasma and erythrocyte zinc levels were analysed and the levels correlated
with the patient’s characteristics and clinical outcomes.
Results
Of 56 patients 53% (n = 30) had abnormally low plasma zinc levels (<12 μmol/L) and 5.5% (n = 3) had abnormally low erythrocyte zinc levels (<160 μmol/L), indicative of deficiency. There were significant associations between lower
plasma zinc levels and the presence of hypertension (p = 0.02), hypercholesteraemia (p = 0.02) and higher body mass index (BMI) (p = 0.034) but no effect on major postoperative clinical outcomes.
Conclusions
This small study shows that zinc deficiency is common in cardiac surgery patients,
especially in the presence of hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia or obesity. The
effects of zinc deficiency in cardiac surgery need to be further investigated.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 14, 2017
Accepted:
July 26,
2017
Received in revised form:
June 22,
2017
Received:
May 3,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ANZSCTS) and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.