Clinical research of zinc gluconate adjuvant therapy in treatment of infant rotavirus enteritis

Abstract

Objective To investigate the clinical effect of zinc gluconate adjuvant therapy in treatment of infant rotavirus enteritis. Methods From October 2011 to November 2014, a total of 248 infants diagnosed as rotavirus enteritis in Shenzhou City Hospital were chosen as study subjects. According to their odd and even number of admission, they were randomly divided into observation group (n=124) and control group (n=124). The treatment strategy of observation group was combination therapy of conventional treatment and zinc gluconate adjuvant therapy, and control group was only treated by conventional treatment. Statistically analyzed total clinical effects rates after treatment, fever disappearance time, vomiting disappearance time and diarrhea disappearance time, and disease recurrence rate between two groups. Double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay method was used to detect levels of serum interleukin (IL)-2, -6 and -8 before treatment and 7 days after treatment in two groups. There were no significant differences between two groups among body weight, course of disease and gender ratio, age, average frequency of bowel per day, and levels of serum IL-2, -6 and -8 before treatment etc. (P>0.05). The procedure of this study was consistent with ethical standard established by the committee of investigation in human beings of Shenzhou City Hospital. And it was approved by this committee. Guardians or patients were informed of grouping and their written informed consent was obtained before clinical studies. Results The total clinical effects after treatment in observation group was 93.5%, which was much higher than that in control group (75.8%), and there was significant difference (χ2=12.055 4, P<0.05). The fever disappearance time, vomiting disappearance time and diarrhea disappearance time in observation group were all much shorter than those in control group, and the differences were all significantly different (t=13.131 2, 15.626 4, 13.575 5, P<0.05). After treatment 7 d, serum levels of IL-2 in two groups were both increased significantly than those before treatment, but serum levels of IL-6, -8 were all decreased significantly than those before treatment, and there were statistically significant differences before and after treatment in two groups, respectively (t=27.761 3, 6.488 2, 74.365 0, P<0.05; t=14.896 9, 21.871 0, 61.019 0, P<0.05). After treatment 7 d, serum level of IL-2 in observation group was much higher than that in control group, but serum levels of IL-6, -8 were obviously lower than those in control group, the differences were also statistically significant (t=14.176 7, 38.834 4, 10.314 3, P<0.05). Follow up for 6 months after treatment, disease recurrence rate in observation group was much lower than that in control group, and there was significantly different (χ2=17.442, P<0.05). Conclusions In the clinical treatment of infant rotavirus enteritis, zinc gluconate adjuvant therapy can effectively improve the clinical efficacy, short effective time, adjust serum level of IL-2, -6 and -8, lower relapse rate after treatment and it's also conducive to the long-term prognosis, so it should be widely applied in clinic. Key words: Enterovirus infections; Rotavirus infections; Enteritis; Diarrhea, infantile; Zinc; Therapy, adjuvant