Zinc Status and Disease Severity in Psoriasis, Atopic Dermatitis, and Seborrheic Dermatitis: A Systematic Review and Meta‑analysis
In brief
Across 13 studies, zinc levels ran lower in three inflammatory skin diseases
A review of 13 studies found lower serum zinc in people with psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and seborrheic dermatitis than in controls; zinc levels often fell as disease severity increased. Results varied substantially across studies, and limited trials did not show routine benefit from supplementation beyond standard care. Whether correcting documented deficiency improves skin outcomes remains unknown.
- Journal
- Nutrition reviews (Q1)
- Published
- 5 October 2026
- Study design
- Systematic review / meta-analysis of RCTs
- Evidence level
- Level 1, High (CEBM 1a)
- Authors
- Monica Gea Novita, Muji Iswanty, Siswanto Wahab, Khairuddin Djawad, Agussalim Bukhari
- PMID
- 42832221
- DOI
- 10.1093/nutrit/nuag136
Why clinicians should know about it
- Picked for Dermatology (top studies of the week, 11 October 2026): Systematic review, zinc status in psoriasis & AD
Abstract
CONTEXT: Zinc is essential for cutaneous barrier integrity and immune regulation. Whether zinc status is associated with severity and whether zinc supplementation provides clinical benefit in inflammatory dermatoses remains uncertain. OBJECTIVE: To synthesize evidence on zinc status and validated severity indices in psoriasis, atopic dermatitis (AD), and seborrheic dermatitis, and to evaluate whether zinc supplementation improves clinical outcomes. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, and Google Scholar (January 2000-December 2025) were used. A hand‑search of references was conducted. STUDY SELECTION: Randomized trials and observational case-control/cross‑sectional studies reporting zinc indices (serum or erythrocyte) and/or severity (Psoriasis Area and Severity Index, Scoring Atopic Dermatitis, Seborrheic Dermatitis Area and Severity Index). DATA EXTRACTION: Four reviewers screened/extracted the data, including risk of bias using the Cochrane RoB 2 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and Joanna Briggs Institute tools for observational designs. Zinc units were harmonized to µg/dL; biomatrices were not cross‑pooled. DATA ANALYSIS: Random‑effects meta‑analyses (restricted maximum likelihood) with Hartung-Knapp adjustment were used for case-control differences in serum zinc. Prespecified sensitivity analyses included leave-one-out removal and random-vs-fixed-effects model switching. RESULTS: Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Serum zinc was lower in cases than in controls across conditions; zinc-severity associations were inverse where compatible, with high heterogeneity driven by assay platform, age strata, and biomatrix. Directionality was robust across sensitivity analyses and influence diagnostics. Interventional data were limited and did not demonstrate routine clinical benefit of zinc supplementation beyond standard care. CONCLUSION: Zinc status is frequently reduced in AD, seborrheic dermatitis, and psoriasis and is often inversely related to severity. Methodological heterogeneity warrants random‑effects inference and cautious interpretation. Current evidence does not support routine zinc therapy; targeted correction of documented deficiency is reasonable pending assay‑standardized, deficiency‑enriched RCTs with prespecified clinical endpoints.
Abstract as published, via PubMed.
For healthcare professionals. The summary is generated by AI from the published abstract, and the evidence level is assigned automatically from the study design on the Oxford CEBM hierarchy. Neither is medical advice. Read the full paper before changing practice.