Open Access

Effectiveness of zinc supplementation on the incidence of oral mucositis during chemotherapy and radiation: A meta‑analysis

  • Authors:
    • Xin Liu
    • Weifang Zhang
    • Yifan Chen
    • Sanjay Rastogi
    • Rupshikha Choudhury
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: May 26, 2023     https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2023.12046
  • Article Number: 347
  • Copyright: © Liu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Oral mucositis (OM) is a commonly observed and debilitating side effect of chemotherapy and radiation therapy in patients with cancer, especially head and neck cancer. Although there is no proven therapy for the prevention and treatment of OM, zinc supplementation effectively decreases the incidence of OM. This paper provides a current and comprehensive meta‑analysis of the efficacy of zinc compared with placebo/control in OM. A systematic literature review was conducted using MEDLINE and Central databases for randomized control trials (RCTs) comparing zinc supplementation (oral or rinse) with placebo/control in patients with various types of cancer undergoing chemotherapy, radiation therapy or combined chemo‑radiation. The outcome was OM incidence, independent of the severity. A random‑effects model was used to calculate the pooled risk ratio and subgroup analyses were performed. A total of 12 RCTs were included, containing information from 783 patients. A decrease in OM incidence was observed overall when all cancer therapies were considered. However, subgroup analyses showed that zinc did not significantly decrease the incidence of OM when studies were stratified by cancer therapy or scale/criteria used to assess OM. The results of the meta‑analysis support the use of zinc supplementation in decreasing OM incidence in patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy. However, the high heterogeneity between studies and the small number of studies are limitations of the meta‑analysis.
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July-2023
Volume 26 Issue 1

Print ISSN: 1792-0981
Online ISSN:1792-1015

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Spandidos Publications style
Liu X, Zhang W, Chen Y, Rastogi S and Choudhury R: Effectiveness of zinc supplementation on the incidence of oral mucositis during chemotherapy and radiation: A meta‑analysis. Exp Ther Med 26: 347, 2023
APA
Liu, X., Zhang, W., Chen, Y., Rastogi, S., & Choudhury, R. (2023). Effectiveness of zinc supplementation on the incidence of oral mucositis during chemotherapy and radiation: A meta‑analysis. Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, 26, 347. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2023.12046
MLA
Liu, X., Zhang, W., Chen, Y., Rastogi, S., Choudhury, R."Effectiveness of zinc supplementation on the incidence of oral mucositis during chemotherapy and radiation: A meta‑analysis". Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine 26.1 (2023): 347.
Chicago
Liu, X., Zhang, W., Chen, Y., Rastogi, S., Choudhury, R."Effectiveness of zinc supplementation on the incidence of oral mucositis during chemotherapy and radiation: A meta‑analysis". Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine 26, no. 1 (2023): 347. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2023.12046