Abstract:
Background: To evaluate the effectiveness of zinc supplementation in malnourished children from 2 months to 5 years of age presenting with acute diarrhoea . Methods: In this case control study, malnourished children, with acute diarrhoea from 2 months to 5 years of age, were divided into two groups. Group 1 receiving oral zinc (10 mg/day for children 6 months ) and Group 2 children not receiving zinc(control group). Results: Total of 72 cases were enrolled in the study, out of which 45 (62%) children were male and 27 (38%) were female and 72 patients were in control group. Statistically significant differences were found in the duration of diarrhoea improvement (pvalue = 0.03), frequency of stools in 24 hours after the enrolment (p-value = 0.001) and stool volume (pvalue = 0.06) between children in oral zinc supplementation group and controls. Conclusion: The duration of diarrhoea improvement, frequency of diarrhoeal episodes and stool volume decrease significantly with oral zinc supplementation as compared to no zinc supplementation among malnourished children with acute diarrhoea.
Page(s):
174-176
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Journal of Rawalpindi Medical College, Volume: 16, Issue: 2, Year: 2012