Retrospective study revealed that Zn relate to improvement of swallowing function in the older adults

BMC Geriatrics

Table 1 Clinical and laboratory data of the initially enrolled 52 patients at the commencement of the study

Type of variable	Distributions (mean ± SD or median [IQR])
Male: Female	15: 37
Age	86.6 ± 7.2 years old
Body weight	46.2 ± 10.2 kg
PS 2	n = 3 (5.8%)
PS 3	n = 6 (11.5%)
PS 4	n = 43 (82.7%)
S-SRT ^a	5.3 s [2.9–23.0 s]
Swallow with 0.4 cc	39 / 52 (75.0%)
Swallow with 2.0 cc ^b	11 / 13 (84.6%)
Serum laboratory data
Zinc level	59.3 ± 11.2 μg/dL
Albumin level	3.4 ± 0.4 g/dL
Total protein level	6.4 ± 0.6 g/dL
Total cholesterol	182.8 ± 34.1 mg/dL
White blood cell count	6072 ± 2143 /μL

Abbreviations: IQR interquartile range (25–75 percentile range), PS performance status, SD standard deviation, S-SPT simple 2-step swallow provocation test
^a S-SPT time in those who required 2.0 cc to swallow (n = 13) were converted by adding 30 s to their total time
^b Prevalence of swallow provocation with 2.0 cc of water was among those who did not swallow with 0.4 cc of water

ISSN: 1471-2318