Zinc supplementation reduces the incidence of acute lower respiratory infections in infants and preschool children: a double-blind, controlled trial.
Pediatrics
; 102(1 Pt 1): 1-5, 1998 Jul.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-9651405
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Increased acute lower respiratory infection incidence, severity, and mortality are associated with malnutrition, and reduced immunological competence may be a mechanism for this association. Because zinc deficiency results in impaired immunocompetence and zinc supplementation improves immune status, we hypothesized that zinc deficiency is associated with increased incidence and severity of acute lower respiratory infection.METHODS:
We evaluated the effect of daily supplementation with 10 mg of elemental zinc on the incidence and prevalence of acute lower respiratory infection in a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial in 609 children (zinc, n = 298; control, n = 311) 6 to 35 months of age. Supplementation and morbidity surveillance were done for 6 months.RESULTS:
After 120 days of supplementation, the percentage of children with plasma zinc concentrations <60 microg/dL decreased from 35.6% to 11.6% in the zinc group, whereas in the control group it increased from 36.8% to 43.6%. Zinc-supplemented children had 0.19 acute lower respiratory infection episodes/child/year compared with 0.35 episodes/child/year in the control children. After correction for correlation of data using generalized estimating equation regression methods, there was a reduction of 45% (95% confidence interval, 10% to 67%) in the incidence of acute lower respiratory infections in zinc-supplemented children.CONCLUSIONS:
A dietary zinc supplement resulted in a significant reduction in respiratory morbidity in preschool children. These findings suggest that interventions to improve zinc intake will improve the health and survival of children in developing countries.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Infecções Respiratórias
/
Gluconatos
Tipo de estudo:
Clinical_trials
/
Diagnostic_studies
/
Etiology_studies
/
Incidence_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
País/Região como assunto:
Asia
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Pediatrics
Ano de publicação:
1998
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Índia