Diarrhea prevalence on days 3 , 5 , and 7 was lower in the zinc group .
The incidence of vomiting was significantly greater in the group that received zinc than in the control group .
CONCLUSIONS Oral zinc supplementation significantly decreases diarrhea duration and has a greater effect on malnourished children .
OBJECTIVE To up date the available evidence about zinc use for treating diarrhea in children and to assess its effect on the malnourished population , a subgroup that has not been fully explored in previous analyses .
Zinc Therapy for Diarrhoea Improves Growth Among Bangladeshi Infants 6 to 11 Months of Age
Objectives : We assessed the effect of zinc for the treatment of diarrhoea implemented at the community level on physical growth among children 6 to 35 months of age . Methods : The service areas of 30 community health workers in the Matlab field site of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research , Bangladesh , were r and omly allocated to the intervention or comparison study arm . Between November 1998 and October 2000 , caretakers of 3- to 59-month-old children with diarrhoea in both intervention and comparison areas were offered oral rehydration solution and feeding advice , and severe episodes were referred for facility-based care . The caretakers of the children in the intervention area were additionally offered 20 mg/day elemental zinc for 14 days as adjunct treatment for each diarrhoea episode . Weight and length of children who were 6 to 11 months of age at the beginning of the study were measured every 2 months for 2 years . Rates of length and weight gains were compared between children living in intervention and control arms using a latent growth model . Results : Characteristics of children living in control and intervention areas were similar , except that more children living in intervention areas were underweight at baseline ( 44 vs 35 % ; P = 0.02 ) . Children living in intervention clusters gained slightly more weight and length than children in the control clusters ( 86.4 g/year and 2.8 mm/year , respectively ) . Conclusions : The therapeutic use of zinc along with oral rehydration solution for community-based diarrhoea management may have a small positive benefit on the rates of growth among children younger than 3 years of age
Diarrhea prevalence on days 3 , 5 , and 7 was lower in the zinc group .
The incidence of vomiting was significantly greater in the group that received zinc than in the control group .
CONCLUSIONS Oral zinc supplementation significantly decreases diarrhea duration and has a greater effect on malnourished children .
OBJECTIVE To up date the available evidence about zinc use for treating diarrhea in children and to assess its effect on the malnourished population , a subgroup that has not been fully explored in previous analyses .