Effect of Zinc supplementation on duration of hospitalization in Tanzanian children presenting with acute pneumonia
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Date
2014
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Publisher
Journal of tropical pediatrics
Abstract
Background: Zinc supplementation prevents incident pneumonia in children; however, the effect for pneumonia treatment remains unclear.
Methods: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of zinc supplements (daily 25 mg) adjunct to antibiotic treatment of radiology-confirmed acute pneumonia was conducted among hospitalized children (6–36 months) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Results: The trial was stopped early due to low enrollment, primarily owing to exclusion of children outside the age range and >3 days of prior illness. Among children enrolled (n = 94), zinc supplementation indicated no beneficial effect on the duration of hospitalization (IRR: 0.69; 95% CI 0.45–1.06; p = 0.09) or the proportion of children who were hospitalized for <3 days (RR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.57–1.25; p = 0.40) or <5 days (RR: 1.01; 95% CI: 0.83–1.23; p = 0.92) (IRRs and RRs >1.0 favor zinc).
Conclusions: Although underpowered, this randomized trial provided no evidence for a beneficial effect of zinc supplementation adjunct to antibiotics for hospitalized children.
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Keywords
zinc, Pneumonia, Micronutrients
Citation
Fataki, M.R., Kisenge, R.R., Sudfeld, C.R., Aboud, S., Okuma, J., Mehta, S., Spiegelman, D. and Fawzi, W.W., 2014. Effect of zinc supplementation on duration of hospitalization in Tanzanian children presenting with acute pneumonia. Journal of tropical pediatrics, 60(2), pp.104-111.