Serum Zinc Level and Coronary Heart Disease Events in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

  1. Minna Soinio, MD1,
  2. Jukka Marniemi, PHD2,
  3. Markku Laakso, MD3,
  4. Kalevi Pyörälä, MD3,
  5. Seppo Lehto, MD4 and
  6. Tapani Rönnemaa, MD1
  1. 1Department of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
  2. 2Department of Health and Functional Capacity, National Public Health Institute, Turku, Finland
  3. 3Department of Medicine, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland
  4. 4Department of Medicine, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland
  1. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Minna Soinio, MD, Department of Medicine, Turku University Central Hospital, P.O. Box 52, FIN 20521, Turku, Finland. E-mail: minna.soinio{at}tyks.fi

Abstract

OBJECTIVE—Low serum zinc level may predispose nondiabetic subjects to cardiovascular diseases. Our aim was to investigate whether serum zinc level predicts coronary heart disease (CHD) events in subjects with type 2 diabetes

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—The original study population consisted of 1,059 patients with type 2 diabetes, aged 45–64 years. Mean duration of diabetes was 8 years. Serum zinc values were available from 1,050 subjects. CHD mortality and the incidence of nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI) were assessed in a 7-year follow-up.

RESULTS—During the follow-up, 156 patients died from CHD and 254 patients had a fatal or nonfatal MI. Patients with serum zinc concentration ≤14.1 μmol/l at baseline had a higher risk for death from CHD than patients with serum zinc level >14.1 μmol/l (20.8 and 12.8%, respectively; P = 0.001) The risks for fatal or nonfatal MI were 30.5 and 22.0%, respectively (P = 0.005). In Cox regression analyses, low serum zinc concentration was significantly associated with CHD mortality (relative risk [RR] 1.7, P = 0.002) and all CHD events (RR 1.37, P = 0.030), even after adjustment for confounding variables.

CONCLUSIONS—In this large cohort of type 2 diabetic patients, low serum zinc level was an independent risk factor for CHD events.

Footnotes

  • A table elsewhere in this issue shows conventional and Système International (SI) units and conversion factors for many substances.

    The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

    • Accepted December 9, 2006.
    • Received August 9, 2006.
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  1. doi: 10.2337/dc06-1682 Diabetes Care March 2007 vol. 30 no. 3 523-528
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