Efficacy of oral zinc as an adjuvant therapy in acute diarrhea in children aged 5-15 years

Introduction: Zinc as an adjuvant therapy in acute diarrhea has been proved effective in children aged below 5 years. Presently there are no any guidelines for the use of zinc in children above 5 years of age. So we studied efficacy of zinc as an adjunct therapy in acute diarrhea in children aged 5-15 years. Materials and Methods: This hospital based longitudinal comparative study was conducted in D.Y.Patil medical college and hospital, Kolhapur, Maharashtra. 200 children aged 5-15 years, admitted with acute diarrhea with dehydration were included.100 children received zinc (study group), orally 20 mg once a day for 14 days & another 100 were not received zinc (control group). Primary and secondary outcome measures in terms of frequency of loose stools per day at 24, 48 hours and on 7th day of admission and duration of hospital stay respectively were compared. The data was analyzed statistically. Results: 75% & 25% children from study group and 27% & 69% from control group had frequency of loose stool ? 5 times and 6-7 times per day at 48 hours respectively. 3% and 78% children from study and 0% and 46% from control group had frequency of loose stool < 2>th day respectively. In study group 88% children were discharged by 4th day and 76% from control group were discharged by 6th day with 2 days lesser hospital stay in children of study group. (P <0> Conclusion: Oral zinc as an adjuvant therapy was effective in acute diarrhea in children aged 5 -15 years.