serum zinc level in dilated and ischemic cardiomyopathy

background: serum trace element alteration has been reported in dilated and ischemic cardiomyopathy. the reports were controversial. we have studied serum zinc level in cardiomyopathy patients in northern province of mazandaran and compared them with healthy volunteers. methods: serum zinc level was measured in 30 ischemic and 18 dilated cardiomyopathy patients against 27 healthy volunteers. it was measured using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. statistical analysis was performed using spss for windows version 14 and independent t-test was used for comparing serum zinc level in ischemic and dilated cardiomyopathy. pearson correlation and anova tests were used for numeric variables in three different groups. p<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. results: the mean serum zinc level was 0.97±0.25, 1.05±0.27, 1.21±0.42 mg/l for idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, ischemic cardiomyopathy and healthy volunteers respectively. there was no significant difference between three groups. there was also no correlation between echocardiography data and serum zinc level. conclusion: this study showed serum zinc level might not have a role in pathogenesis of ischemic and dilated cardiomyopathy. as intracellular zinc level play a role in heart subjected to ischemia- reperfusion, measuring intracellular zinc may give us a better clue about role of zinc or other trace elements in pathogenesis of cardiomyopathy.