Abstract:

Background: Pneumonia is considered leading cause of child mortality and morbidity in developing countries Although research has shown that zinc supplementation can help to prevent pneumonia, its therapeutic efficacy has yet to be established.

Objectives: to determine the prevalence of zinc deficiency in hospitalized children with pneumonia and the effect of zinc supplementation as an adjuvant on pneumonia outcome in hospitalized young children.

methods: A double-blind randomized controlled trial was carried out on 80 hospitalized children with acute pneumonia aged 2-60 months who were admitted to the pediatric department of Menoufia university hospital in Egypt. Prior to intervention, baseline data, detailed medical history and clinical assessments were done. Also, Serum zinc levels were measured in all patients. Following enrollment, the children were randomly assigned to either zinc supplementation or a placebo.

Results: Among 80 children with pneumonia, 17.5 % had deficient zinc levels. This study found a statistically significant difference between the Zinc and placebo groups in terms of the mean days to disappearance of chest in-drawing (P=0.001), duration to symptoms resolution (P=0.002), and mean duration of hospitalization (P=0.004), all of which were shorter in the Zinc group than in the control group. There was also a statistically significant difference between the two groups in the mean duration of tachypnea (P=0.026) and the time to normal bilateral air entry (P=0.043).

Conclusion: Zinc supplementation as an adjuvant improved the duration to symptom resolution, and reduced length of stay in hospitalized children.

Key Words: Hospital stay, Symptom resolution, Zinc group.