Fataki, Maulidi R.2020-02-282020-02-282014Fataki, 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./doi.org/10.1093/tropej/fmt089http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/282Background: 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.enzincPneumoniaMicronutrientsArticle