Low zinc levels a potential risk factor for stroke

There appears to be an inverse relationship between serum zinc concentrations and the incidence of ischaemic stroke, especially among women, a study has found.

The study included a subgroup of 2,346 individuals randomly selected from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke cohort. Researchers measured serum zinc levels at baseline and applied Barlow-weighted Cox’s proportional hazards regression models to estimate the risk of ischaemic stroke by serum zinc levels.

A total of 660 incident ischaemic stroke cases were recorded in the entire cohort, with 62 incident cases overlapping in the subgroup. The median zinc level for the subgroup was 121.19 (interquartile range, 104.86–140.39) µg/dL.

In an analysis adjusted for potential confounders, the risk of incident ischaemic stroke decreased with higher serum zinc levels (quartile 4 vs quartile 1: hazard ratio [HR], 0.78, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.61–0.98; p=0.03 for trend).

Among the prespecified factors (sex, race, or region) examined, only sex exerted a significant influence on the association (p=0.03 for interaction). Specifically, the protective effect of higher serum zinc levels was more pronounced among females (quartile 4 vs quartile 1: HR, 0.58, 95 percent CI, 0.41–0.84; p<0.01 for trend) than males (quartile 4 vs quartile 1: HR, 1.08, 95 percent CI, 0.78–1.51; p=0.92 for trend).

The findings suggest that low zinc levels may be a risk factor for ischaemic stroke.