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Serum Levels of Copper and Zinc in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: a Meta-analysis

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Abstract

Many publications with conflicting results have evaluated serum levels of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). To derive a more precise estimation of the relationship, a meta-analysis was conducted. Relevant published data were retrieved through PubMed, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM) before September 20, 2014. Weighted mean difference (WMD) with a 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI) was calculated using STATA 11.0. A total of 26 studies, including 1444 RA cases and 1241 healthy controls, were collected in this meta-analysis. Pooled analysis found that patients with RA had a higher serum level of Cu and a lower serum Zn level than the healthy controls (Cu (μg/dl), WMD = 31.824, 95 % CI = 20.334, 43.314; Zn (μg/dl), WMD = −12.683, 95 % CI = −19.783, −5.584). Subgroup analysis showed that ethnicity had influence on the serum level of Cu (μg/dl) (Caucasian, WMD = 43.907, 95 % CI = 35.090, 52.723, P < 0.001; Asian, WMD = 14.545, 95 % CI = −12.365, 41.455, P = 0.289) and Zn (μg/dl) (Caucasian, WMD = −11.038, 95 % CI = −23.420, 1.344, P = 0.081; Asian, WMD = −14.179, 95 % CI = −18.963, −9.394, P < 0.001) in RA and healthy controls. No evidence of publication bias was observed. This meta-analysis suggests that increased serum level of Cu and decreased serum level of Zn are generally present in RA patients.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30771849, 30972530, 81273169).

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None of the authors has any conflicts of interest to declare.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, Anhui, 230032, China

      Lihong Xin, Xiao Yang, Guoqi Cai, Dazhi Fan, Qing Xia, Li Liu, Yanting Hu, Ning Ding, Li Wang, Xiaona Li, Yanfeng Zou & Faming Pan

    2. Department of Rheumatism and Immunity, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, 230022, China

      Shengqian Xu

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    1. Lihong Xin
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    Correspondence to Faming Pan.

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    Lihong Xin and Xiao Yang contributed equally to this work.

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    Xin, L., Yang, X., Cai, G. et al. Serum Levels of Copper and Zinc in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: a Meta-analysis. Biol Trace Elem Res 168, 1–10 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-015-0325-4

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