Preoperative serum zinc status in morbid obesity patients scheduled for bariatric surgery: A cross-sectional study.

AIM: Obesity is a significant global health challenge and a modifiable and preventable risk factor for several medical conditions. This study aimed to assess zinc levels in patients with morbid obesity undergoing bariatric surgery (BS) and to determine the correlation between zinc deficiency and morbid obesity.

METHODS

A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted at Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Hospital-Olaya Branch, a tertiary referral center for BS, over a 12-month period from June 2024 to June 2025. The study population comprised 217 patients (aged ≥ 15 years) diagnosed with obesity who were scheduled to undergo BS. Zinc deficiency was defined as a serum zinc level of < 68 µg/dL.

RESULTS

It was observed that among 217 participants, 32.3% (n = 70) were zinc deficient, of which 27.2 and 35.3% were noticed to have zinc deficiency in males and females, respectively. The mean zinc levels were 79.12 ± 15.91 and 73.32 ± 12.21 µg/dL in males and females, respectively (p = 0.003). Serum zinc showed positive correlations with height (r = 0.159, p = 0.02) and hemoglobin (r = 0.231, p < 0.001), but not with age, weight, or BMI. Among patients with zinc deficiency (n = 13), hypertension was the most common (61.5%), followed by diabetes (23.1%) and combined diabetes with hypertension (15.4%).

CONCLUSION

Patients with morbid obesity are at high risk for zinc deficiency. Routine preoperative zinc screening should be incorporated into standard care to enable timely interventions and improve long-term nutritional health.