Serum zinc deficiency in patients after gastrectomy for gastric cancer.
PURPOSE
Zinc is an essential dietary component for humans and the second most prevalent trace element; however, serum zinc levels after gastrectomy have not been fully elucidated. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between clinicopathologic features and serum zinc levels in patients who underwent gastrectomy for gastric cancer.


METHODS
The study enrolled 617 patients who underwent gastrectomy for gastric cancer at the Kochi Medical School. Clinical data were obtained to investigate associations between clinicopathological features, including nutritional indicators and serum zinc levels. Serum zinc deficiency was defined as serum zinc level < 80 μg/dL.


RESULTS
The median zinc level of the 617 patients was 73 μg/dL (range, 31-144 μg/dL), and serum zinc deficiency was present in 68.6% of patients. Median age was significantly higher in the zinc low level group than in the normal group (69 vs. 66 years, P < 0.001). Albumin was significantly lower in the zinc low level group than in the normal group (3.9 vs. 4.2 g/dL, P < 0.001). C-reactive protein level was significantly higher in the zinc low level group than in the normal group (0.12 vs. 0.10 mg/dL, P = 0.014). The median serum zinc level was significantly lower in the patients who received chemotherapy after gastrectomy than in those who were not received chemotherapy (72 vs. 76 μg/dL, P < 0.001). Serum zinc levels showed a significant positive correlation with serum albumin (r = 0.505, P = 0.044). Multivariate analysis showed that serum albumin level was significantly associated with serum zinc level (β = 0.489, P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Serum zinc deficiency was found in 68.6% of postoperative patients who underwent gastrectomy for gastric cancer, which was highly correlated with serum albumin.
['Namikawa|Tsutomu|T|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8971-404X', 'Shimizu|Shigeto|S|', 'Yokota|Keiichiro|K|', 'Tanioka|Nobuhisa|N|', 'Iwabu|Jun|J|', 'Munekage|Masaya|M|', 'Uemura|Sunao|S|', 'Maeda|Hiromichi|H|', 'Kitagawa|Hiroyuki|H|', 'Kobayashi|Michiya|M|', 'Hanazaki|Kazuhiro|K|']
D005743:Gastrectomy D006801:Humans D044342:Malnutrition D012189:Retrospective Studies D013274:Stomach Neoplasms D015032:Zinc
Serum zinc Gastrectomy Gastric cancer Nutritional indicator