title: Plasma copper/zinc ratio: an inflammatory/nutritional biomarker as predictor of all-cause mortality in elderly population.
abstract: Associations have been reported between plasma Cu and Zn levels and the incidence of the most important age-related diseases. Previously proposed methods of using plasma Cu/Zn as a predictor of all-cause mortality have been derived from populations in which old and very old subjects were underrepresented. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the usefulness of plasma Cu/Zn as a sensitive biomarker of harmful inflammatory or nutritional changes in the elderly and its incremental prognostic utility as a predictor of all-cause mortality in a functionally independent elderly Italian cohort. The association between plasma Cu/Zn and inflammatory (CRP, ESR, IL-6) or nutritional (albumin, BMI) markers was studied in 498 elderly subjects. Blood samples were taken from 164 healthy 20- to 60-year-old volunteer controls. A 3.5 years prospective follow-up study of mortality by age-related diseases was performed in n = 218 over 70-year-olds. Plasma Cu/Zn ratio was associated with all the inflammatory markers studied, as well as with serum albumin, and predicted 3.5 years mortality in subjects over 70. Plasma Cu/Zn was higher in women than men and increased with advancing age. Subjects with stable cardiovascular disease (CVD) displayed higher plasma Cu/Zn than those without, due mainly to increased plasma Cu. However, most of the age-related changes of Cu/Zn resulted from a progressive decline of plasma Zn. Cu/Zn ratio may be considered an important clinical inflammatory-nutritional biomarker as well as a significant predictor of all-cause mortality in over 70-year-olds.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Nutrigenomic and Immunosenescence, INRCA, Via Birarelli 8, 60121, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malavolta
authors.forename: Robertina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Giacconi
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Piacenza
authors.forename: Lory
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Santarelli
authors.forename: Catia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cipriano
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Costarelli
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tesei
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pierpaoli
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basso
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Galeazzi
authors.forename: Fabrizia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lattanzio
authors.forename: Eugenio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mocchegiani
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D002423:Cause of Death; D003300:Copper / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000097:blood*; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009752:Nutritional Status; D015032:Zinc / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D003300:Copper; D015032:Zinc