Effect of Zinc Supplementation in Prevention of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Preterm Neonates

Abstract

Necrotizing enterocolitis is a serious condition involving the gastrointestinal tract and is one of the most common causes of death in neonates. It occurs due to various factors including the altered immune response of the premature intestinal tract against gut microbiota, resulting in inflammation and damage to the gut. Objective: To find out the effect of Zinc in the prevention of necrotizing enterocolitis in very preterm infants in the first 2 weeks of life. Methods: It was a double-blind randomized control trial held in the Neonatology section of Pediatric Medicine unit-II, Mayo hospital Lahore. The duration of the study was 11 months after the approval of the synopsis from August 2019 to July 2020. A total of 94 patients were included in the studies (95% confidence level, 7% absolute precision). Probability sampling, a simple random sampling technique was used. The study included 94 patients, 28 weeks to 32 weeks of gestational age. Results: In this study, the mean age of neonates was 54.85±11.60 hours, 51(54.26%) patients were male whereas 43(45.74%) patients were females. A birth weight having <1 kg was observed in 20(21.3%) patients and a birth weight between 1-2 kg was observed in 49(52.1%) patients. Necrotizing enterocolitis was developed among 6(6.38%) patients. Among the zinc supplementation group, the NEC developed in 2(4.3%) patients whereas, among the placebo group, the NEC developed in 4(8.5%) patients (p-value=0.677).Conclusion: This study concluded that zinc supplementation did not prove any preventive effect against necrotizing enterocolitis in very preterm infants.