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The effectiveness of high dose zinc acetate lozenges on various common cold symptoms: a meta-analysis

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Primary Care, February 2015
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • One of the highest-scoring outputs from this source (#5 of 2,378)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (99th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
23 news outlets
blogs
4 blogs
twitter
46 X users
facebook
9 Facebook pages
wikipedia
1 Wikipedia page
googleplus
2 Google+ users
reddit
1 Redditor
video
2 YouTube creators

Citations

dimensions_citation
29 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
95 Mendeley
citeulike
1 CiteULike
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Title
The effectiveness of high dose zinc acetate lozenges on various common cold symptoms: a meta-analysis
Published in
BMC Primary Care, February 2015
DOI 10.1186/s12875-015-0237-6
Pubmed ID
Authors

Harri Hemilä, Elizabeth Chalker

Abstract

A previous meta-analysis found that high dose zinc acetate lozenges reduced the duration of common colds by 42%, whereas low zinc doses had no effect. Lozenges are dissolved in the pharyngeal region, thus there might be some difference in the effect of zinc lozenges on the duration of respiratory symptoms in the pharyngeal region compared with the nasal region. The objective of this study was to determine whether zinc acetate lozenges have different effects on the duration of common cold symptoms originating from different anatomical regions. We analyzed three randomized trials on zinc acetate lozenges for the common cold administering zinc in doses of 80-92 mg/day. All three trials reported the effect of zinc on seven respiratory symptoms, and three systemic symptoms. We pooled the effects of zinc lozenges for each symptom and calculated point estimates and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Zinc acetate lozenges shortened the duration of nasal discharge by 34% (95% CI: 17% to 51%), nasal congestion by 37% (15% to 58%), sneezing by 22% (-1% to 45%), scratchy throat by 33% (8% to 59%), sore throat by 18% (-10% to 46%), hoarseness by 43% (3% to 83%), and cough by 46% (28% to 64%). Zinc lozenges shortened the duration of muscle ache by 54% (18% to 89%), but there was no difference in the duration of headache and fever. The effect of zinc acetate lozenges on cold symptoms may be associated with the local availability of zinc from the lozenges, with the levels being highest in the pharyngeal region. However our findings indicate that the effects of zinc ions are not limited to the pharyngeal region. There is no indication that the effect of zinc lozenges on nasal symptoms is less than the effect on the symptoms of the pharyngeal region, which is more exposed to released zinc ions. Given that the adverse effects of zinc in the three trials were minor, zinc acetate lozenges releasing zinc ions at doses of about 80 mg/day may be a useful treatment for the common cold, started within 24 hours, for a time period of less than two weeks.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 46 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 95 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Finland 2 2%
Korea, Republic of 1 1%
United States 1 1%
Unknown 91 96%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 18 19%
Student > Bachelor 16 17%
Other 13 14%
Student > Ph. D. Student 6 6%
Student > Postgraduate 5 5%
Other 13 14%
Unknown 24 25%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 32 34%
Nursing and Health Professions 13 14%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 7 7%
Sports and Recreations 6 6%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 2 2%
Other 6 6%
Unknown 29 31%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 248. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 05 January 2024.
All research outputs
#150,785
of 25,516,314 outputs
Outputs from BMC Primary Care
#5
of 2,378 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#1,595
of 270,351 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Primary Care
#1
of 38 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,516,314 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,378 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.7. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 270,351 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 38 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.