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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 20 mg/day for > 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.