A recent study from New York University found that for hospitalized patients with COVID-19, zinc sulfate may improve health outcomes.
The study is posted on medRxiv.org. One author is Philip M. Carlucci, from New York University Grossman School of Medicine.
In the study, the team collected data from electronic medical records for COVID-19 patients with admission.
Hospital outcomes were compared for patients who received hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin plus zinc (411 patients) versus those who received hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin alone (521 patients).
The team found that the addition of zinc sulfate had no impact on the length of hospitalization, duration of ventilation or duration of intensive care unit (ICU) stay.
However, zinc sulfate increased the frequency of patients being discharged home and reduced the need for ventilation, admission to the ICU, and mortality or transfer to hospice for patients not admitted to the ICU in univariate analyses.
The findings remained strong for increased frequency of being discharged home and reduction in mortality or transfer to hospice after adjustment for the time at which zinc sulfate was added to the protocol.
The team says these findings support the initiation of future randomized clinical trials testing zinc sulfate against COVID-19.
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