The name of the article I presented was “Zinc Supplementation Associated with a Decrease in Mortality in COVID-19 Patients”. This article was published via Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine (NSUMD) by Spencer Z. Rheingold et al. This article was centered around a meta-analysis that included 3 retrospective cohort studies and 2 randomized control trials. For mortality, it was found that COVID-19-infected individuals treated with zinc supplement had a reduced risk of mortality than individuals not treated with a zinc supplement. In this analysis, two studies demonstrated a significant association between zinc supplements and mortality, whereas three others failed to reach significance. The two studies reaching statistical significance were retrospective observational studies.
When it comes to symptoms it was found that COVID-19-infected individuals treated with zinc supplement had no difference in in symptoms reduction than individuals not treated with a zinc supplement. In conclusion the study states zinc is widely available and may be used as a cost-effective way to prevent poor outcomes for those with COVID-19. This data also opens the possibility of further research on the effectiveness of zinc against other viral infections. However, there were limitations to this study. A small number of studies were assessed, only five were chosen for mortality analysis with a total sample size of 1,474 patients, and two were chosen for symptomology with a sample size of 391 patients. The design of the studies chosen limits the conclusions made in this study regarding mortality as three of the studies are retrospective studies and only two are randomized control trials for mortality. Both papers that assessed symptomology were randomized control trials. Between studies, zinc formulations were different, and in some cases, zinc was given in combination with other drugs. Therefore, more research on zinc supplementation as a supportive treatment or prophylaxis of the COVID-19 virus before any conclusions can be made on its effectiveness.
