Department of Pediatrics, Juliana Children's Hospital, Haga Teaching Hospital, 2545 AA The Hague, The Netherlands.
Danone Nutricia Research, 3584 CT Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Nutrients. 2021 Oct 22;13(11):3713. doi: 10.3390/nu13113713.
Zinc deficiency (ZnD) has adverse health consequences such as stunted growth. Since young children have an increased risk of developing ZnD, it is important to determine its prevalence and associated factors in this population. However, only a few studies have reported on ZnD prevalence in young children from Western high-income countries. This study evaluated ZnD prevalence and associated factors, including dietary Zn intake, in healthy 1-3-year-old children from Western European, high-income countries. ZnD was defined as serum Zn concentration <9.9 µmol/L. A total of 278 children were included with a median age of 1.7 years (Q1-Q3: 1.2-2.3). The median Zn concentration was 11.0 µmol/L (Q1-Q3: 9.0-12.2), and ZnD prevalence was 31.3%. No significant differences were observed in the socio-economic characteristics between children with and without ZnD. Dietary Zn intake was not associated with ZnD. ZnD is common in healthy 1-3-year-old children from Western European countries. However, the use of currently available cut-off values defining ZnD in young children has its limitations since these are largely based on reference values in older children. Moreover, these values were not evaluated in relation to health consequences, warranting further research.
锌缺乏症（ZnD）会对健康产生不良影响，如生长迟缓。由于幼儿患 ZnD 的风险增加，因此确定该人群的患病率及其相关因素非常重要。然而，只有少数研究报告了来自西欧高收入国家的幼儿 ZnD 患病率。本研究评估了来自西欧高收入国家的健康 1-3 岁儿童的 ZnD 患病率及其相关因素，包括膳食锌摄入量。ZnD 定义为血清 Zn 浓度 <9.9 µmol/L。共纳入 278 名儿童，中位年龄为 1.7 岁（Q1-Q3：1.2-2.3）。Zn 浓度的中位数为 11.0 µmol/L（Q1-Q3：9.0-12.2），ZnD 的患病率为 31.3%。ZnD 患儿与无 ZnD 患儿的社会经济特征无显著差异。膳食锌摄入量与 ZnD 无关。ZnD 在来自西欧国家的健康 1-3 岁儿童中很常见。然而，目前用于定义幼儿 ZnD 的临界值的使用存在局限性，因为这些临界值主要基于较大儿童的参考值。此外，这些值并未针对健康后果进行评估，需要进一步研究。
