A comparison of efficacy of a 5‐day versus 10‐day zinc therapy for acute childhood diarrhoea (ACD) on the incidence of diarrhoea in subsequent three months

Abstract

Design Randomised, double‐blind, placebo controlled community trial.Seeting Rural BangladeshSubjects and Methods: Children (n=1622) aged 4 – 59 months with acute diarrhea, detected by daily community surveillance, were randomly allocated either to 5‐ or 10‐days of zinc treatment. Those allocated to the 5‐day course received an indistinguishable placebo for the remaining 5 days. Female field workers visited each individual child daily and supervised the administration of zinc.Result: The two groups were comparable in terms of age, sex, nutritional status and selected SES variables. Adherence to the treatment was 99% for the 1st five days and 97% for 2nd five days. The mean (±SD) incidence of diarrhoea over 90 days did not differ significantly between 5‐d vs 10‐d groups (1.08±1.38 vs 1.02±1.35; p=0.35; respectively). Children in both groups spent a comparable days with diarrhoea (3.1±5.6 d vs 2.9±5.6 d; p=0.64; 5‐d vs 10‐d respectively). Time to onset of the first episode during 90 d period did not differ significantly between groups. The proportion of children suffering from diarrhoea over the 90‐day period did not differ significantly between groups. The diarrhea incidence and prevalence in the two groups were also comparable.Conclusions: These findings suggest that a 5‐day zinc treatment for ACD is as efficacious as 10 days of therapy in preventing diarrhoea in the subsequent three months.