Zinc and copper supplementation in acute diarrhea in children: a double-blind randomized controlled trial

Study answer

What this study found

Zinc, with or without copper, did not show a consistent clinical benefit over placebo for acute diarrhea in this population. Duration of diarrhea from enrollment was similar across groups, with 64.4 hours in both the zinc and zinc plus copper arms versus 62.2 hours in placebo, and the log-rank p value was 0.6399. Stool weight during hospitalization and other adjusted clinical outcomes also did not differ significantly across groups. Complications were uncommon and not clearly reduced in the active arms, although serum zinc and copper levels increased with supplementation. The syrups were…

Study & population

Double-blind randomized controlled trial in hospitalized children 6 months to 59 months old with acute watery or bloody diarrhea in Nagpur, India.

Intervention

Participants received oral zinc sulfate syrup at an elemental zinc dose of 2 mg/kg/day for 14 days.

Key limitation

Interpretation is limited by a single-center design in hospitalized children from Nagpur, India, and by the heterogeneous acute diarrhea population.

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Original abstract