Avaliação do zinco plasmático nos pacientes idosos no Hospital Regional de Araguaina, Tocantins

Abstract

Zinc is an important micronutrient that plays a role in many enzymatic and immune system activities in human body. Considering this, the goal of this work is to evaluate zinc deficiency in elderly patients. A total of 88 volunteers with more than 65 years old, admitted at ER from Regional Hospital, were monitored and zinc concentration was dosed in their plasma. The sampling volunteers were evaluated according to: race, gender, anthropometric measurements, hemoglobin, albumin, total lymphocyte count, C-reactive protein dosage and length of stay. The results suggest that zinc deficiency is more pronounced in females and patients with zinc deficiency also show lower values of body mass index (BMI), hemoglobin, albumin and lymphocyte count. There was no increased incidence of infection in the group with zinc deficiency, but the group had a longer hospital stay.