Incidence of Zinc Deficiency Among Under-five Children of Kanam Local Government Area, North-central Nigeria

Abstract

Background: A survey of rural population of Kanam Local Government Area (LGA) North-central Nigeria for zinc deficiency was undertaken following the outcome of a pilot survey which suggested a prevalence of morphological and other clinical indicators of zinc deficiency among under-five years children. Objective: The objective of this study was to carry out a formal systematic investigation of zinc status of the under-five children of Kanam, North-central Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Incidence of zinc deficiency in the study area was determined by measuring plasma zinc, a biomarker of zinc status, in the most vulnerable group of the population, the under-5-year children and carrying out a household food consumption survey. Sixty six blood samples were collected from under-5-year children of randomly selected households across the LGA and analysed for zinc content by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrophotometry (ICP-MS). The households of the under-5 children were surveyed for the pattern and frequency of consumption of selected zinc-rich foods and for incidence of zinc deficiency related illnesses among the under-5 subjects by means of questionnaire. The resultant plasma zinc data were analysed statistically by the studentʼs t-test on SPSS version 17.0, the relationship between plasma zinc data of the under-5 subjects and their zinc-rich food consumption patterns was analysed by Pearsonʼs correlation analysis. Results: Mean plasma zinc concentration, 57.59±30.40 µg dLG1, was significantly below the normal. Thirty nine or 59.09% of the 66 under-5 subjects had plasma zinc content below the 61 µg dLG1 cut-off point for zinc deficiency. Incidence of zinc deficiency, as determined by plasma zinc was higher among male than female subjects. Conclusion: The results indicate a high incidence of zinc deficiency in the studied population. The population is therefore, at risk of zinc deficiency. There is a significant negative (r = -0.65) correlation between pattern of consumption of zinc-rich diet and zinc status, suggesting that prevalence of zinc deficiency may be due to zinc deficient staple diet. The risk of zinc deficiency is high enough and calls for a national intervention programme through public health nutrition interventions to improve the zinc status.