Study of zinc supplementation in children suffering from acute diarrhoea in Kanti children’s hospital

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of zinc supplementation in reducing frequency of diarrhea in children. An observational study was done among 37 patients in Kanti Children’s Hospital, from December 2009 to May 2010. The patients were distributed in three groups. Information was taken according to the designed proforma and data was analyzed by using SPSS 16.0. At the fifth day, the average frequency of stool passing per day was 3.69 ± 1.377 (for ORS group) and 2.33 ± 0.985 (ORS and zinc for 5days) and 2.33 ± 0.492 (ORS and zinc for 10 days). At tenth day the average frequency of passing stool was 2.46 ± 0.519 (for ORS group), 2.08 ± 0.515 (for ORS and 5days zinc) and 2.33 ± 0.492 (for ORS and 10days zinc). The average frequency of diarrhoea in children of all three groups was around two episodes per day at the tenth day. Comparison of the average frequency of diarrhoea of children in three groups showed significant difference (P= 0.002) only at 5^th day; however acute diarrhoea disappeared in all groups at tenth day. About 21 patients taking zinc developed vomiting. Other effects like fatigue, stomach upset were rarely observed.