Hair and Serum Mineral Profiles in Children Recovering From COVID-19

Abstract

Mineral measurements may help characterize nutritional and metabolic status after childhood COVID-19, but evidence combining serum and hair analyses is limited. We summarized a clinical recovery cohort of 112 children with previous mild (n = 16), moderate (n = 70) or severe (n = 26) COVID-19, compared with 30 healthy controls as reported in the original manuscript. Serum zinc, calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D and five reported hair-element profiles were evaluated descriptively; a separate retrospective hospital cohort of 240 children provided contextual acute-illness information only. Mean serum zinc was 13.56 µmol/L in controls and 7.78, 6.98 and 6.63 µmol/L after mild, moderate and severe disease. Corresponding vitamin D means were 40.40, 12.96, 11.60 and 6.82 ng/mL. Hair zinc declined from 87.38 µg/g in controls to 80.38, 68.89 and 54.61 µg/g across the recovered groups, whereas hair copper increased from 17.5 to 22.5, 27.0 and 33.5 µg/g. Gastrointestinal complaints (66.9%) and fatigue/autonomic symptoms (63.3%) were reported in the recovery sample. These descriptive gradients warrant prospective study but do not establish causation or the benefit of supplementation.