The role of zinc supplementation for diarrhoea in children: a critical review

Authors

  • Wulandari Berliani Putri Department of Public Health, Universitas Islam Indonesia
  • Syaefudin Ali Akhmad Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Islam Indonesia
  • Sufi Desrini Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Islam Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v18i2.40684

Keywords:

Zinc; zinc therapy; zinc supplemental; diarrhoea; diarrheal disease; gastroenteritis, children; infant; malnutrition; developing country

Abstract

Background: Nearly 1.7 million children suffer from diarrhoea and around 760,000 die each year. The high prevalence of diarrhoea in the developing countries is closely related to lack of safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and hygiene, and poor health and nutritional status. These environmental conditions facilitate the spread of infectious disease easily. The great morbidity and mortality of this preventable and treatable disease raise concern on how to save children from this fatal disease by improving management of diarrhoea. Several studies suggest that zinc deficiency contribute towards high morbidity and mortality in diarrhoea. Further, there is an area of uncertainty regarding how significant zinc supplementation will help to reduce the duration and severity of diarrhoea in children compared to the diarrhoea management without zinc?

Objective: To critically analyse the current evidences of zinc supplementation in diarrhoea.

Data Sources: Keywords searching through MEDLINE Ovid database and additional references from retrieved articles. Study Selection: Limited to randomized controlled trial(RCT) study design and systematic review studies which were conducted from 2006 to 2016. However, there is one prospective cohort study included as it is a follow-up of subjects who participated in the previous double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial.

Data Synthesis: This review involves a summary of 10 articles that have been appraised on their relevance in evaluating the role of zinc in reducing severity and duration of diarrhoea in children. Further, the literature found is synthesised through method used in the studies and the effectiveness of zinc therapy

Conclusion: Zinc is relatively safe to be used and it can improve diarrhoea management especially in developing countries.

Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.18(2) 2019 p.190-195

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
Abstract
28
PDF
24

Downloads

Published

2019-03-25

How to Cite

Putri, W. B., Akhmad, S. A., & Desrini, S. (2019). The role of zinc supplementation for diarrhoea in children: a critical review. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science, 18(2), 190–195. https://doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v18i2.40684

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 2 (2019)

Section

Review Article

License

Authors who publish in the Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science agree to the following terms that:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science the right of first publication of the work.

  2. Creative Commons Licence
    Articles in Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License CC BY-4.0.This license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
  3. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  4. Authors are permitted to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as greater citation of published work.