The Route of Administration Determines the Efficacy of Zinc in Preventing Radiation-Induced Oral Mucositis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Curr Oncol · 2026 · PMC13298057 · PMID 42346271

Europe PMC DOI

hedged sentences

0.0010

closest p · 0.0× alpha

0.0550

boldest claim

The sentences

highly significantp = 0.001actually significant

We observed a trend that topical zinc mouthwash may provide a profound, highly significant reduction in severe RIOM risk (RR = 0.16, p = 0.001) with zero heterogeneity.

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failed to reach statistical significancep = 0.055so close (0.05 < p ≤ 0.1)

The pooled RR was 0.52 (95% CI: 0.27–1.01), which failed to reach statistical significance ( p = 0.055) and presented with moderate residual heterogeneity ( I 2 = 37%).

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borderline significanceno p-value reported

Conversely, the certainty of evidence for systemic zinc administration was rated as low, having been downgraded for both imprecision (borderline significance with wide confidence intervals) and inconsistency ( I 2 = 37%). 4.

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Quoted from the open-access full text in Europe PMC under the licence the publisher applied. The sentence is reproduced exactly as published; the emphasis is ours.