Relationships between Plasma Micronutrients, Serum IgE, and Skin Test Reactivity and Asthma among School Children in Rural Southwest Nigeria

Table 2

Serum proteins and micronutrients in asthma cases and controls.

Micronutrient (normal range)	Asthma cases (𝑛=37)	Controls (𝑛=30)	𝑃^∗
	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD
Magnesium (18–30 mg/L)	33.7±3.8	33.1±4.5	0.49
Zinc (65–145 μg/mL)	100.6±22.8	106.3±24.7	0.44
Calcium (8.5–10.5 mg/dL)	7.48±2.16	8.29±1.62	0.04
Iron (60–175 μg/mL)	78.2±14.9	72.7±22.4	0.17
Manganese (35–100 μg/L)	44.1±11.5	49.3±7.9	0.01
Copper (70–133 μg/mL)	50.2±8.9	53.3±9.5	0.11
Cadmium (30–300 μg/dL)	36.9±6.4	35.9±5.1	0.78
Chromium (≤140 μg/dL)	35.1±6.3	34.2±5.3	0.96
Selenium (80–280 μg/L)	76.1±14.9	63.3±26.8	0.02
Total protein (5.0–8.0 g/dL)	7.28±0.48	7.28±0.73	0.84
Albumin (3.0–5.0 g/dL)	3.45±0.90	3.91±0.99	0.04
Globulin (2.0–3.0 g/dL)	3.79±1.10	3.37±0.98	0.10

^∗𝑃 values were calculated from the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. The pair-ship was ignored because only 16 matched pairs have data in the two matched individuals.