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Copper deficiency

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Copper deficiency also known as hypocupraemia is exceedingly rare in the normal population.

  • historically the deficiency was present in patients receiving total parenteral hyperalimentation or total parental nutrition (TPN)
  • currently, it is increasingly recognised in patients undergoing gastric resection or bariatric gastric reduction surgery (1)
    • in a case series of 136 patients who underwent gastric bypass surgery, 9.6% had hypocupraemia
    • two other case series containing 64 and 141 bariatric surgery patients respectively reported
      • substantial hypocupraemia in 23% at 6 months and 70% at 3 years
      • a progressive reduction in average serum copper concentrations over five years (2)

Hypocupraemia may lead to:

  • vitamin B12 deficiency-like symptoms
  • anemia and leukopenia with myelodysplastic manifestations
  • growth retardation
  • defective keratinization and pigmentation of the hair
  • neurodegenerative syndrome
  • mental deterioration
  • scurvy-like changes in the skeleton (3)

Reference:


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