Zinc Supplementation and Infections in Older Medical Patients

ConditionsOlder Adults (65 Years and Older)Medical Patients in the Emergency Department

Trial statusRecruiting

Trial phaseNot applicable

Trial typeInterventional

Biological sexAll

Age65+

SponsorHerlev Hospital

About this trial

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn about the effect of zinc supplementation once daily for 12 months in older acute medical patients. The main question it aims to answer is:

• Can daily zinc supplementation for 12 months increase Days Alive and Out of Hospital (DAOH)? Researchers will compare zinc supplementation to a control group, a group who do not receive zinc supplementation, to see if zinc supplementation can increase Days Alive and Out of Hospital, reduce antibiotic use, readmissions and mortality.

Participants will take 22 mg zinc supplementation once daily for 12 months or not.

The researchers will draw data on readmissions, antibiotic use and mortality during the 12 months follow-up period.

Eligibility criteria

This trial does not accept healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

All medical patients aged ≥ 65 years assessed at the Medical Emergency Department, Herlev Hospital

Disqualifiers

Self-supplementing with zinc at time of assessment (> 10 mg zinc/day)

Terminal illness (life expectancy < 6 months, estimated by Clinical Frailty Scale ≥8)

Patients receiving parenteral nutrition (partial or complete)

Patients treated with hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis

Trial design

Design model

Parallel

Treatments tested in this trial

Zinc (zinc sulphate)
Dietary supplement
22 mg zinc sulphate tablets taken once daily for 12 months

Treatment groups

8,000 Participants

are divided into 3 treatment groups

Group A: InterventionActive comparator 1 intervention

Group B: Recommendation groupExperimental treatment 1 intervention

Group C: Control groupNo intervention 0 interventions

Trial outcomes

Primary outcomes

Days Alive and Out of Hospital

To evaluate the differences between the groups in Days Alive and Out of Hospital. The endpoints will include date of death, date of hospitalization, and number of days hospitalized during the 12 months follow-up period in the three groups

Time frame