Effect of Zinc Supplement on Severity Of Acute Diarrhea Among Childern Under Five Years Of Age

Abstract

According to World Health Organization (WHO) approximately four million children less than 5 years of age in Asia, Africa, and Latin America die annually from diarrhea; and 80% of these deaths occur in the first year of life. Objective: To see how a zinc supplement influences the severity of acute diarrhea in children under the age of five. Methods: In current study, we analyze the effect of zinc on diarrheal patients. Zinc was randomly assigned to diarrheal patients in different concentration 5 mg, 10 mg, 15 mg and 20 mg. There were two groups in our study, treatment and control group. Results: The results are presented in the form of descriptive and inferential statistics. In T1 (Treatment Group) number of Diarrhea patients < 1 Year of age were 16, 2-4 years of age were 45, 4-5 years of age and maximum no of patients in T1 < 2 year of age were 57. Number of male patients were 84 while female patients were 67 in T1.In T2 (Control Group) number of male patients were 92 while female patients were In T1 number of patients residing in urban area were 51 while rural were 100. In T2 number of urban were 69 while rural were 82.Number of patients stay in the hospital for one day were 67 ,15 for Four days and only 1 for seven days in T1. In T2 number of patients stay in the hospital for one day were 29, 17 for four days and only 6 for seven days. In T1 number of Patients with watery diarrhea were 87, Mucoid consistency of stool were 31,soft consistency of stool were 23 and formed consistency of stool were 9.In T2 watery diarrhea were 92,Mucoid consistency of stool were 25,soft consistency of stool were 31 and formed consistency of stool were 4. Frequency of stool significantly reduced (P<0.005) at 7th day of zinc treatment while consistency of stool was significantly improved (P<0.005) at day 3 and day 5 of zinc treatment. Children who received zinc supplements showed a marked improvement in all outcome measures, suggesting that this deficiency is amenable to correction by replacement.