Effect of zinc supplementation in PELOD-2 score and zinc serum level in children with sepsis.

Background: Sepsis in children still shows a high mortality rate. Nutritional factors are important in the treatment of sepsis. Zinc is one of the key elements that can limit mitochondrial dysfunction due to an imbalance between reactive oxygen species and antioxidants that occur in sepsis. We aim to determine the effect of Pediatric Logistic Organ Dysfunction 2 (PELOD-2) score and zinc serum level before and after zinc supplementation in septic children. Methods: This is an experimental study with one group pretest-posttest design in patients aged 1 month to 18 years with sepsis treated at the PICU H. Adam Malik General Hospital from March 2018-February 2019. Oral zinc supplementation was given for 5 days. The PELOD-2 score and zinc serum level measurement were performed by using inductively coupled plasma-spectrometry (ICP-MS) on the first and fifth days. Bivariate analysis was performed by paired T test. Results: A total of 17 patients were analyzed. The paired T test showed significant difference in serum zinc levels before and after supplementation (p<0.001) even though the zinc levels were both still below normal values (28.7±11.7 µg/dl and 40.5±18.3 µg/dl, respectively). PELOD-2 score still showed increasing values with significant differences (p<0.001) before and after zinc supplementation (7.76±2.4 and 11.7±3.3, respectively). Conclusion: This was the first report that evaluated effect of zinc supplementation on PELOD-2 score. Zinc supplementation did not decrease PELOD-2 score but could give significant improvement in zinc serum level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]