Zinc is an essential micronutrient that is involved in several metabolic processes, especially children's growth and development. Although many previous studies have evaluated the zinc nutritional status of children, there are very few reports on children aged 6-18 years old. Furthermore, there are few reports on children's zinc nutrition status based on the Chinese population. According to WHO data, the prevalence of zinc deficiency in Asian countries is rather high and has resulted in high child mortality. In this study, we aimed to comprehensively assess zinc nutritional status and the prevalence of zinc deficiency among children aged 6-18 years in China based on nationally representative cross-sectional data. Subgroup comparisons were made under possible influencing factors. The potential risk factors of zinc deficiency were also discussed. A total of 64,850 children, equally male and female, were recruited from 150 monitoring sites in 31 provinces through stratified random sampling from China National Nutrition and Health Survey of Children and Lactating Mothers (CNNHS 2016-2017). Median and interquartile intervals were used to represent the overall zinc concentration levels and different subgroups. A Chi-square test was used to compare serum zinc levels and the prevalence of zinc deficiency in children under different group variables. In order to study the influencing factors of zinc deficiency, multiple logistic regression was utilized. It was found that the median concentration of serum Zn was 88.39 μg/dL and the prevalence of Zn deficiency was 9.62%. The possible influence factors for Zn deficiency were sex, anemia, nutritional status, city type and income. By conducting a subgroup analysis of the factors, it was found that males; those with anemia, stunting and low income; and children living in rural areas have a higher risk of Zn deficiency. This study offers a comprehensive analysis of Zn nutritional status among Chinese children, which provides reliable data for policy formulation to improve the zinc nutrition status of children.
Keywords: Zn deficiency; anemia; children; zinc.