The effect of zinc sulfate on prevention, incidence, and severity of mucositis in leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of zinc sulfate on the incidence and severity of mucositis in leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy.

METHODS: This was a randomized clinical trial and placebo-controlled, triple blinded study. This study was conducted on leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy. The subjects were randomly allocated into an experimental (received 50 mg zinc sulfate capsules) and a control group (received placebo capsules). Zinc and placebo capsules were administered three times daily for 14 days from the first day of chemotherapy. Mucositis was measured by the oral mucositis index and World Health Organization mucositis scale on the 4th, 7th, and 14th days after chemotherapy. The data were analyzed using independent t-test, chi-square test, and Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (RM-ANOVA).

RESULTS: The results showed a significant difference between the two groups in terms of the incidence of mucositis, which was 2.1 times higher in the control group in comparison to the zinc sulfate group. The results of RM-ANOVA also indicated a significant difference between the two groups regarding the mean score of objective and subjective evaluation of mucositis during the three study periods (F = 7.83, p = .007 and F = 5.79, p = .01, respectively).

CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicated that zinc sulfate reduced the incidence and severity of mucositis in leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy. As zinc sulfate prevented and relieved mucositis in leukemia patients under chemotherapy, using zinc sulfate is recommended in clinical setting. Yet, further studies are suggested to confirm these findings.