European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Background: Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) is one of the most common cause of hospital admission in adult males. Zinc is the second most abundant mineral in the body involved in the cell growth, cell division and regulation of immune system activity. In studies, zinc administration has been effective in improving gastroenteritis in adults. However, rare studies have been conducted on this subject. The present study aimed to compare the serum zinc level between males with febrile Urinary Tract infection & healthy males as control.
Objective: This study was performed to compare serum zinc level between males with febrile UTI and healthy males.
Method: In this case-control study, serum zinc levels for 50 adult males of more than 50 years of age with urinary tract infections were compared with the serum zinc levels of the same number of healthy males in the control group who were matched in terms of location and age. Using SPSS ver. 18, univariate analysis was performed through t-test, correlation coefficient; and multivariate analysis was carried out through multiple regression tests. Significant level was considered as less than 0.05.
Results: There was a weak correlation between age and serum zinc level (r=-0.203, p=0.043). Mean serum zinc level of the test group and the control group were 74.31 (±15.01) and 94.41 (±9.12) microgram/deciliter (p=0.001), respectively. The group with UTIs had lower zinc levels than the control group (p=0.010, R2=0.366).
Conclusion: According to the results of this study, serum zinc levels of people with urinary tract infections were lower than that in the control group. It seems that zinc levels are a risk factor for urinary tract infections.