Abstract
Objectives. Pneumonia is one of the common mortality causes in young children. Some studies have shown beneficial effect of zinc supplements on treatment of pneumonia. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of short courses of zinc administration on recovery from this disease in hospitalized children. Methods. In a parallel Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial at Ayatollah Golpaygani Hospital in Qom, 120 children aged 3–60 months with pneumonia were randomly assigned 1 : 1 to receive zinc or placebo (5 mL every 12 hours) along with the common antibiotic treatments until discharge. Primary outcome was recovery from pneumonia which included the incidence and resolving clinical symptoms and duration of hospitalization. Results. The difference between two groups in all clinical symptoms at admittance and the variables affecting the disease such as age and sex were not statistically significant (P < 0.05) at baseline. Compared to the placebo group, the treatment group showed a statistically significant decrease in duration of clinical symptoms (P = 0.044) and hospitalization (P = 0.004). Conclusions. Supplemental administration of zinc can expedite the healing process and results in faster resolution of clinical symptoms in children with pneumonia. In general, zinc administration, along with common antibiotic treatments, is recommended in this group of children. It can also reduce the drug resistance caused by multiple antibiotic therapies. This trial is approved by Medical Ethic Committee of Islamic Azad University in Iran (ID Number: 8579622-Q). This study is also registered in AEARCTR (The American Economic Association's Registry for Randomized Controlled Trials). This trial is registered with RCT ID: AEARCTR-0000187.
Highlights
Acute lower respiratory tract infection is one of the most important and common diseases among children, which is accompanied by high mortality rate, especially in young children
The World Health Organization estimates that of approximately 4 million annual deaths due to pneumonia, half of the cases occur in children less than 1 year of age [2, 3, 5]
This study was a parallel, double-blind, randomized controlled clinical trial conducted on 120 children aged 3– 60 months suffering from pneumonia, after obtaining permission from the University Research Council and Ethics Committee
Summary
Acute lower respiratory tract infection is one of the most important and common diseases among children, which is accompanied by high mortality rate, especially in young children This infection is the most important cause of mortality among children under 5 in developing countries, accounting for nearly one-third of the cases [1,2,3,4]. Zinc and iron deficiency is one of the most common nutritional problems in Iran and many developed countries. About 50% of the common nutritional problems are due to a combined deficiency of the two elements, though the beneficial role of zinc compared to iron has been forgotten in Iran [6]
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