Association of serum zinc levels with liver function and survival in patients awaiting liver transplantation

Zinc deficiency as an independent prognostic factor for patients with early hepatocellular carcinoma due to hepatitis virus

“…In other reports, Sengupta noted that liver cirrhosis patients with zinc deficiency had a lower 3year survival rate as compared with those without such a deficiency (51% vs. 74%, P = 0.04; n = 163), whereas Friedrich et al found a significant association of death or liver transplantation in patients with advanced liver cirrhosis who also had zinc deficiency (P < 0.001), resulting in a 28.3-fold increase in risk for either of those results (95% CI 3.2-244.8). 38 Zinc depletion has also been suggested to be a cause of fibrosis 39,40 and Stepien et al reported that zinc might have a role in preventing HCC. 41 Although Child-Pugh score (≥6) and ALBI (≥2: mALBI ≥2a) were not prognostic factors for survival in the present results, Katayama et al previously showed that serum albumin levels are strongly associated with serum zinc levels (r = 0.587, P < 0.0001), as well as total bilirubin (r = -0.222, P = 0.0053), ammonia levels (r = -0.246, P = 0.0028), and prothrombin (r = -0.255, P = 0.0029) 18 and the present results also showed serum zinc level had a correlation with ALBI score.…”