Considerations on the treatment for hypozincemia on children (persons) with severe motor and intellectual disabilities residing in a facility

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to consider the treatment for hypozincemia on children (persons) with severe motor and intellectual disabilities who are long-term residents in a facility. Regarding the target and method, 22 persons who began first-time treatment for hypozincemia between April 2018 and November 2019 were selected as subjects. For 15 cases with serum zinc levels of 60-79μg/dl, 14g of cocoa (containing 1mg zinc, cocoa group) were administered and for 7 cases with serum zinc levels under 60μg/dl, 75mg/day of Polaprezinc® (containing 17mg zinc, low-dose zinc preparation group) were administered to consider the effects thereof. As a result, the serum zinc median before and after treatment for both the cocoa group and the low-dose zinc preparation group significantly increased from 70μg/dl to 73μg/dl and from 57μg/dl to 97μg/dl, respectively. Post-treatment serum zinc levels for the low-dose zinc preparation group were significantly higher than the cocoa group. While the ratio of effective cases within the reference value for the cocoa group was 33.3%, the ratio was 71.4% for the low-dose zinc preparation group. In conclusion, while supplementing zinc through diet from cocoa was effective, the effects were limited. More case studies on the supplement dosage of zinc preparations are desired.