Zinc deficiency is associated with impaired antiviral response, cytokine releasing syndrome (CRS), and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Notably, similar complications are being observed during severe SARS-CoV-2 infection.

We conducted a prospective, single-center, observational study in a tertiary university hospital (CUB-Hôpital Erasme, Brussels) to address the zinc status, the association between the plasma zinc concentration, development of CRS, and the clinical outcomes in PCR-confirmed and hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

One hundred and thirty-nine eligible patients were included between May 2020 and November 2020 (median age of 65 years [IQR = 54, 77]).

Our cohort's median plasma zinc concentration was 57 µg/dL (interquartile range [IQR] = 45, 67) compared to 74 µg/dL (IQR = 64, 84) in the retrospective non-COVID-19 control group (N = 1513; p < 0.001). Markedly, the absolute majority of COVID-19 patients (96%) were zinc deficient (<80 µg/dL).

The median zinc concentration was lower in patients with CRS compared to those without CRS (-5 µg/dL; 95% CI = -10.5, 0.051; p = 0.048).

Among the tested outcomes, zinc concentration is significantly correlated with only the length of hospital stay (rho = -0.19; p = 0.022), but not with mortality or morbidity. As such, our findings do not support the role of zinc as a robust prognostic marker among hospitalized COVID-19 patients who in our cohort presented a high prevalence of zinc deficiency. It might be more beneficial to explore the role of zinc as a biomarker for assessing the risk of developing a tissue-damaging CRS and predicting outcomes in patients diagnosed with COVID-19 at the early stage of the disease.

缺锌与抗病毒反应受损、细胞因子释放综合征 (CRS) 和急性呼吸窘迫综合征有关。值得注意的是，在严重的 SARS-CoV-2 感染期间观察到了类似的并发症。

我们在三级大学医院（CUB-Hôpital Erasme，布鲁塞尔）进行了一项前瞻性、单中心、观察性研究，以解决锌的状况、血浆锌浓度、CRS 的发展和 PCR 确认的临床结果之间的关系和住院的 COVID-19 患者。

2020 年 5 月至 2020 年 11 月期间纳入了 139 名符合条件的患者（中位年龄为 65 岁 [IQR = 54, 77]）。

与回顾性非 COVID-19 对照组（N = 1513；p  < 0.001）。值得注意的是，绝大多数 COVID-19 患者 (96%) 缺锌 (<80 µg/dL)。

与没有 CRS 的患者相比，CRS 患者的中位锌浓度较低（-5 µg/dL；95% CI = -10.5，0.051；p  = 0.048）。

在测试结果中，锌浓度仅与住院时间显着相关（rho = -0.19；p  = 0.022），但与死亡率或发病率无关。因此，我们的研究结果不支持锌在住院 COVID-19 患者中作为强有力的预后标志物的作用，这些患者在我们的队列中表现出高锌缺乏症。探索锌作为生物标志物的作用可能更有益，以评估在疾病早期诊断为 COVID-19 的患者发生组织损伤性 CRS 的风险和预测结果。