Key limitations: They only used 5 papers
> There were limitations to this study. A small number of studies were assessed, only five were chosen for mortality analysis with a total sample size of 1,474 patients, and two were chosen for symptomology with a sample size of 391 patients. The design of the studies chosen limits the conclusions made in this study regarding mortality as three of the studies are retrospective studies and only two are randomized control trials for mortality. Both papers that assessed symptomology were randomized control trials. Between studies, zinc formulations were different, and in some cases, zinc was given in combination with other drugs.
3 of those studies were retrospectives, 2 were randomized studies. One of those randomized studies was halted for "futility" at zinc treatment.
I'm suspicious about the conclusions.
These are all studies released in 2024:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10408398.2022.21...
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12011-023-03788-9
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00223...
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mohammad-Alam-86/public...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-53202-0
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.13855...
https://bmcnutr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40795-02...
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41043-024-00504-8
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/cmc/pre-prints/co...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266614972...
https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2022/03/dudako...
"There’s a long history linking zinc with optimal immune function. For example, it’s known that people whose zinc levels are too low have little to no infection-fighting T cells and the thymus, the organ in which T cells develop, is nearly non-existent, Iovino said. When zinc-deficient people are given extra zinc, their thymuses grow and start pumping out these immune cells."
