Abstract
Diarrhea constitutes a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children less than five years of age in developing countries. Diarrheal diseases cause more than 3 million deaths each year and contribute substantially to malnutrition in surviving children. Studies have sufficiently described the beneficial effect of zinc in all types of diarrhea. Zinc helps by reducing the duration of diarrhea, especially in malnourished children. This study was designed to compare the severity of diarrhea in children receiving zinc plus ORS and other with ORS alone in normal and malnourished children.
The study included 100 patients, 50 belonging to each study and control group. In normally nourished patients partial recovery (2.69±1.08 vs 3.94±1.21; P=8.91E-05) and complete recovery (4.23±1.66 vs 5.83±1.76; P=0.00021) occurred earlier in study group. In children with malnutrition the mean duration in days for partial recovery (2.57±1.09 vs 4.71 ±1.27; P= 1.23E-03) and complete recovery (4.00±1.66 vs 6.57±1.16; P=0.00006572) was less in study group. By Mann-Whitney test, the P value for partial and complete recovery is statistically significant. Among nutritionally normal patients the mean duration in hours (days) was (90.48 ± 52.8 {3.77 ± 2.20} vs 126.96 ± 50.64 {5.29 ± 2.11}; P= 0.00129) less in study group. In malnourished patients the mean duration in hours (days) was (80.64± 46.8 {3.36 ±1.95} vs160.96 ± 69.04 {6.89 ± 2.46}; P=0.000686) less in study group and statistically significant by Mann-Whitney test.
To conclude we found that zinc causes early normalization of stool consistency and early recovery in both normal and malnourished children. It decreases total duration of hospital stay.
Keywords: acute diarrhea, partial recovery, complete recovery, hospital duration.
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Corresponding Author
Dr Vaishali R. Ghane
Address: Bldg 2A- 1304, New MHADA Towers,
Near Union Bank, Powai, Mumbai.400 072
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DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v6i1.30
