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Incidence and Predicting Factors of Hypozincemia in Very-Low-Birth-Weight Infants at Near-Term Postmenstrual Age

We prospectively investigated serum zinc (Zn) concentrations and clinical factors in 118 very-low-birth-weight infants with a gestational age of 29.5 ± (SD) 2.5 weeks and a birth weight of 1,194 ± 254 g at near-term postmenstrual age. The 25th percentile of the serum Zn concentration was 7.0 µmol/l. The infants whose serum Zn concentrations were less than 7.0 µmol/l (defined as hypozincemia) did not have apparent symptoms of Zn deficiency. Multivariate logistic regression analyses demonstrated that hypozincemia was associated with factors such as weight gain (1-g/kg/day increase of weight; OR 1.1762, 95% CI 1.0414–1.3286) and serum albumin concentration (1-g/dl increase of serum albumin; OR 0.0816, 95% CI 0.0152–0.4372). The types of milk feeding did not affect the serum Zn concentrations in the study subjects. This study suggests that hypozincemia in very-low-birth-weight infants at near-term postmenstrual age is associated with greater weight gain and lower serum albumin concentration. Nutritional supply of Zn by human milk fortifier and preterm formula does not appear to meet the demands of rapidly growing very-low-birth-weight infants.