Conclusion
The use of zinc sulfate as adjunctive therapy in critically ill patients with COVID-19 may have survival benefits. Additionally, zinc use may have a protective effect on the kidneys. Further randomized clinical and interventional studies are needed to confirm our findings.
Abbreviations
ICUs: Intensive care units; COVID-19: Coronavirus disease; MV: Mechanical ventilation; LOS: Length of Stay; APACHE II: Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II; SOFA: Sequential Organ Failure Assessment; NUTRIC: Nutrition Risk in Critically ill; Q1, Q3: 1St interquartile and 3rd interquartile; eGFR: Glomerular filtration rate; AKI: Acute Kidney Injury; MV: Mechanical Ventilation; INR: International normalized ratio; aPTT: Activated partial thromboplastin time; C-RP: C-reactive protein; CPK: Creatine phosphokinase; PaO2/FiO2: Arterial oxygen tension/fraction of inspired oxygen
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge all of the investigators in the Saudi critical care pharmacy research (SCAPE) platform who participated in this project. Additionally, we thank Dr. Hakeam A. Hakeam for his support during the study execution.
Funding
None.
Availability of data and materials
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from corresponding author on reasonable request.
Declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
The study was approved in November 19th, 2020 by King Abdullah International Medical Research Center Institutional Review Board, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Reference No: RC20/589/R). Participants' confidentiality was strictly observed throughout the study using the anonymous unique serial number for each subject and restricting data only to the investigators. Informed consent was not required due to the research's method as per the policy of the governmental and local research center.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Crit Care. 2021;25(363) © 2021 BioMed Central, Ltd.
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