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 and copper supplementation are not cost-effective interventions in the treatment of acute diarrhea.
BACKGROUND Diarrhea is one of the principal causes of morbidity and mortality among children in the developing world . Cumulative costs of treating diarrhea would be high and would further increase if zinc was used as an adjunct to treatment of acute diarrhea . OBJECTIVE To determine the impact of zinc supplementation on the mean predicted costs of treating acute diarrhea and the incremental cost-effectiveness ( CE ) as compared with placebo , from the provider 's ( government ) and patient 's perspective . STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING In a r and omized , double-blind , placebo-controlled clinical trial , 808 children aged 6 - 59 months with acute diarrhea were individually r and omized to placebo ( Pl ) , zinc ( Zn ) only , and zinc and copper ( Zn + Cu ) together with st and ard treatment of acute diarrhea . The actual re source utilization and cost data were collected for all participants . The incremental CE ratio and its 95 % confidence interval ( 95 % CI ) were assessed . RESULTS The relative CE for treating acute diarrhea was 1.5 ( 95 % CI : 1.50 , 1.52 ) times more when supplemented with zinc and 1.7 ( 95 % CI : 1.69 , 1.71 ) times more when supplemented with Zn + Cu with no additional beneficial effect . CONCLUSION This study showed that zinc or zinc with copper supplementation were not cost-effective in the treatment of acute diarrhea in this study population
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 .