ICD-11 classes
05 Endocrine, nutritional or metabolic diseases
Nutritional disorders
Undernutrition
5B5K — Mineral deficiencies
5B5K.2 — Zinc deficiency

ICD-11 5B5K.2 — Zinc deficiency

The clinical features of severe zinc deficiency in humans are growth retardation, delayed sexual and bone maturation, skin lesions, diarrhoea, alopecia, impaired appetite, increased susceptibility to infections mediated via defects in the immune system, and the appearance of behavioural changes. The effects of marginal or mild zinc deficiency are less clear. A reduced growth rate and impairments of immune defence are so far the only clearly demonstrated signs of mild zinc deficiency in humans. Other effects, such as impaired taste and wound healing, which have been claimed to result from a low zinc intake, are less consistently observed.

The diagnosis includes nothing.

The diagnosis excludes nothing.

It has no clarifying diagnoses.