Dig Dis Sci. 2021 Jun 8. doi: 10.1007/s10620-021-07078-z. Online ahead of print.

Jun Ishihara ¹, Katsuhiro Arai ², Takahiro Kudo ³, Ryusuke Nambu ⁴, Hitoshi Tajiri ⁵, Tomoki Aomatsu ⁶, Naoki Abe ⁷, Toshihiko Kakiuchi ⁸, Kunio Hashimoto ⁹, Tsuyoshi Sogo ¹⁰, Michiko Takahashi ¹¹, Yuri Etani ¹², Ryosuke Yasuda ¹, Hirotaka Sakaguchi ¹, Ken-Ichiro Konishi ¹, Hitoshi Obara ¹³, Tatsuyuki Kakuma ¹³, Yushiro Yamashita ¹, Tatsuki Mizuochi ¹⁴

Author information

• ¹Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Kurume University School of Medicine, 67 Asahi-machi, Kurume, 8300011, Japan.
• ²Division of Gastroenterology, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.
• ³Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan.
• ⁴Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Saitama Children's Medical Center, Saitama, Japan.
• ⁵Department of Pediatrics, Osaka General Medical Center, Osaka, Japan.
• ⁶Department of Pediatrics, Osaka Medical College, Takatsuki, Osaka, Japan.
• ⁷Department of Infection and Immunology, Aichi Children's Health and Medical Center, Aichi, Japan.
• ⁸Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, Japan.
• ⁹Department of Pediatrics, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
• ¹⁰Department of Pediatric Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Saiseikai Yokohamashi Tobu Hospital, Yokohama, Japan.
• ¹¹Department of Pediatrics, Sapporo Kosei General Hospital, Sapporo, Japan.
• ¹²Department of Gastroenterology and Endocrinology, Osaka Women's and Children's Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
• ¹³Biostatistics Center, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Japan.
• ¹⁴Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Kurume University School of Medicine, 67 Asahi-machi, Kurume, 8300011, Japan. mizuochi_tatsuki@kurume-u.ac.jp.

Abstract

Background: Reports of zinc and selenium deficiencies accompanying inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) mostly have originated from Western countries and concerned adult patients. Whether Japanese children with IBD have similar deficiencies remained unclear.

Aim: We aimed to elucidate differences in serum zinc and selenium concentrations in Japanese children between types of IBD.

Methods: Children under 17 years old undergoing care at 12 Japanese pediatric centers were retrospectively enrolled between November 2016 and February 2018 to 3 groups representing Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and normal controls (NC) with irritable bowel syndrome or no illnesses. Serum zinc and selenium were measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Zinc and selenium deficiencies were defined by serum concentrations < 70 μg/dL and < 9.5 μg/dL, respectively.

Results: Subjects included 98 patients with CD (median age, 13 years), 118 with UC (11 years), and 43 NC (11 years). Serum zinc and selenium were significantly lower in CD (median, 64 and 12.6 μg/dL respectively) than in UC (69 and 14.6; P < 0.05 and P < 0.001) or NC (77 and 15.7; P < 0.01 and P < 0.001). Zinc deficiency was significantly more prevalent in CD (60.2%) than in NC (37.2%; P < 0.05), but not than in UC (51.7%; P = 0.22). Selenium deficiency was significantly more prevalent in CD (15.3%) than in UC (5.9%; P < 0.05) or NC (0%; P < 0.01).

Conclusions: In Japanese children under 17 years old, serum zinc and selenium were significantly lower in CD than in UC or NC. Zinc and selenium should be monitored, and supplemented when deficient, in children with IBD, especially CD.