Reference range of zinc in adult population (20-29 years) of Lahore, Pakistan

OBJECTIVE To determine the reference range of zinc in adult population (age range 20 to 29 years) of Lahore. METHODS It was a descriptive cross sectional study which was carried out from Jan- August 2012 in Chemical Pathology Department of University of Health Sciences, Lahore. Serum zinc concentration was measured by flame atomic absorption spectrometry in randomly selected 450 healthy adults aged 20 to 29 years. After application of exclusion criteria reference values were determined in apparently healthy subjects according to guidelines of International Federation of Clinical Chemistry. The data was entered & analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Serum Zn levels was expressed as Mean ± SD. RESULTS A total of 450 healthy subjects were included in this study. Out of these, 234 were females. Mean age was 25±0.13years. The mean concentration of zinc in serum of healthy individual was 24.02±7.03 µmol/L (range11.47-36.72). The mean±SD for males subjects were 22.33±6.42 µmol/L(range11.93-32.4). Similarly the mean±SD for females were 21.72±7.34 µmol/L (range9.94-36.87). CONCLUSION This study presents reference range for serum zinc concentration in adult population of Lahore. The results showed that there is significant difference in serum level of zinc among different countries. This study will help us in establishing reference ranges of trace elements on larger population in future.