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. 2022 Jun 17:9:2333794X221099266.
doi: 10.1177/2333794X221099266. eCollection 2022.

Effect of Zinc Supplementation in Children Less Than 5 Years on Diarrhea Attacks: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Yosra S Abd El-Ghaffar  1 , Ahmed Esmat Shouman  1 , Sally Adel Hakim  1 , Yasmin Gamal Abdo El Gendy  2 , Maha Magdy Mahmoud Wahdan  1
Affiliations

Effect of Zinc Supplementation in Children Less Than 5 Years on Diarrhea Attacks: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Yosra S Abd El-Ghaffar et al. Glob Pediatr Health. .

Abstract

Recurrent infections and weak immunity were found to be linked with zinc deficiency especially in children. The goal of this study is to measure the level of blood zinc in children aged 6 months to less than 5 years old, and to assess the effect of 4 months of daily zinc supplements on the incidence and the severity of diarrheal morbidity. A randomized controlled trial study was conducted in Pediatric Outpatient Clinic in Ain Shams University Hospital on 140 children less than 5 years old who are apparently healthy. Random assignment of the sampled children to group receiving zinc (70 children) or group receiving placebo (70 children) was done. A questionnaire containing questions about occurrence of diarrhea was used during follow up. Serum zinc at baseline was measured. The mean age was 25.26 ± 15.7 months. Mean of serum zinc was 51.08 μg/dL, with 70% had low baseline serum zinc level. Cumulative incidence of diarrhea, number of diarrhea episodes per child and frequency of stools/day decreased significantly in zinc group (P < .05). Risk ratio was found to be 0.79, 95% CI: 0.64 to 0.97. we concluded that incidence of diarrhea and its severity reduced in children received zinc daily for 4 months. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT05002101.

Keywords: Diarrhea; Malnutrition; Prevention; Zinc.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
CONSORT flow chart for the study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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