Community-acquired pneumonia is a major cause of death among children. Inadequate nutrition disrupts the immune system and increases the susceptibility to infections. We aimed to evaluate the association between vitamin D, serum zinc, and iron, and pneumonia. A case-control study was conducted at the outpatient clinic and emergency room of Children’s Hospital. Thirty-one patients with community-acquired pneumonia and 36 healthy children (control group) underwent serum sampling for vitamin D, zinc, and iron. Most patients had mild form (n = 17, 54.8%). All patients survived and were discharged. The serum iron level showed a non-significant difference between pneumonia and control groups (p ˃ 0.05). TIBC, vitamin D, and serum zinc were significantly lower in the patient group than the control group (P value = 0.04, < 0.001, and 0.03, respectively). Vitamin D deficiency was highly associated with the severity of pneumonia (P value = 0.008). Adequate serum zinc and vitamin D levels may be protective against infection with community-acquired pneumonia in children aged from 2 months to 5 years old, but not iron.

中文翻译：

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维生素D、血清锌和血清铁缺乏在儿童社区获得性肺炎中的作用

社区获得性肺炎是儿童死亡的主要原因。营养不足会破坏免疫系统并增加感染的易感性。我们旨在评估维生素 D、血清锌和铁与肺炎之间的关联。在儿童医院门诊和急诊室进行病例对照研究。31 名社区获得性肺炎患者和 36 名健康儿童（对照组）接受了维生素 D、锌和铁的血清采样。大多数患者为轻度形式（n = 17, 54.8%）。所有患者均存活并出院。血清铁水平在肺炎组和对照组之间没有显着差异（p ˃ 0.05）。患者组的 TIBC、维生素 D 和血清锌显着低于对照组（P 值 = 0.04、< 0.001 和 0.03，分别）。维生素 D 缺乏与肺炎的严重程度高度相关（P 值 = 0.008）。充足的血清锌和维生素 D 水平可以保护 2 个月至 5 岁儿童免受社区获得性肺炎的感染，但对铁无效。