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Impact of Zinc Supplementation on Subsequent Morbidity and Growth

This study was conducted to explore whether supplementation of zinc to children during persistent diarrhea has any subsequent effect on morbidity and growth. A prospective follow-up study was conducted among children, aged 3-24 months, with persistent diarrhea, who participated earlier in a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial. During persistent diarrhea, children were randomly allocated to receive either zinc in multivitamin syrup or only multivitamin syrup for two weeks. After recovering from diarrhea, 76 children in the multi-vitamin syrup and 78 children in the zinc plus multivitamin syrup group were followed up for subsequent morbidity and growth. Weekly morbidity and two-weekly anthropometric data were collected for the subsequent 12 weeks. Data showed that episodes and duration of diarrhea were reduced by 38% and 44% respectively with supplementation of zinc. There was no significant difference in the incidence or duration of respiratory tract infection between the zinc-supplemented and the non-supplemented group. Improved linear growth was observed in underweight children (weight-for-age <70% of the National Center for Health Statistics standard) who received zinc compared to those who did not receive.