Oral zinc for treating diarrhoea in children

Study answer

What this study found

Zinc supplementation reduces diarrhoea duration and persistence in several subgroups. In acute diarrhoea, zinc reduces mean duration by about 13.4 hours overall (MD −13.42 hours; 95% CI −20.52 to −6.31; 5096 children, 20 trials), with substantial heterogeneity (I2 = 84%). In older than six months, duration shortened by around half a day; in malnourished children, duration reduced by about a day; in infants under six months, little or no effect on duration and possible increased persistence to day seven. Vomiting was more common with zinc in both age groups (moderate certainty). In persistent…

Study & population

Randomized controlled trials in children aged 1 month to 5 years with acute or persistent diarrhoea (including dysentery); settings included hospital and community; many trials double-blind; total 33 trials with 10,841 children.

Intervention

Oral zinc supplementation (zinc sulfate, zinc acetate, or zinc gluconate) taken by mouth; typical daily dose around 20 mg (range from 5 mg/day to >20 mg/day in some trials); duration commonly about 14 days (half of trials), with some shorter (4 days) or longer (up to 14 days); dosing mostly once daily (some trials…

Key limitation

High heterogeneity across trials with varying populations, settings, dosing regimens, and co-supplementation; risk-of-bias concerns in some trials; most trials conducted in hospital settings and in populations with higher zinc deficiency; limited data on mortality/hospitalization; potential publication bias suggested…

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Original abstract