SynthesisFrontiers in nutrition2025
Association between zinc status and autism spectrum disorder in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis of case-control studies.
Synthesis in Frontiers in nutrition, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy and Safety of Propranolol Versus Other Drugs in the Treatment of Infantile Hemangioma.Journal of cosmetic dermatology · 2026Pooled it
- Elucidating Biological Links in Autism Spectrum Disorder: From Blood-Based Risk Factor Identification to a Validated Nomogram for Early Risk Stratification.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: This study aimed to further corroborate a previously reported connection between zinc nutritional status and the occurrence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among children and adolescents. Methods: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted. The PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and PsyclNFO databases were searched for all relevant case-control studies published until January 2024. Cohen's kappa was computed to assess reviewer agreement. This meta-analysis used a random-effects model to summarize the overall association between zinc levels and ASD. The Q-test and I Results: We included 25 case-control studies with 4,763 children and adolescents, comprising 2,499 cases and 2,264 typical controls. The random-effects meta-analysis revealed that whole blood and plasma/serum zinc levels were negatively associated with ASD (standardized mean difference [SMD] = -0.44, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.63 to -0.25; SMD = -1.79, 95% CI: -2.74 to -0.84), whereas hair (SMD = -0.01, 95% CI: -0.40 to 0.37) and urinary (SMD = -0.17, 95% CI: -0.87 to 0.53) zinc levels were not associated with ASD. Moreover, we observed statistically significant heterogeneity among the included studies (plasma/serum zinc: I Conclusion: Blood zinc levels were associated with ASD among children and adolescents. Therefore, screening blood zinc levels in children with ASD may be warranted. Further prospective studies are warranted to elucidate the role of zinc in the etiology of ASD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.