A Study on Zinc Utilization in the Treatment of Acute Diarrhoea among The Paediatric In - Patients of JNIMS Hospital, Imphal – A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Acute diarrhoeal disease is a public health problem. Treatment of this disease with ORS along with zinc supplementation is a big challenge. Zinc supplementation in the treatment of diarrhoea has shown to decrease the duration and severity of diarrhoeal episodes and hospitalization rates. The study examines the role of Zinc in the management of acute diarrhoea among paediatric in-patients in JNIMS Hospital, Imphal. Zinc is necessary for physiological processes including defence against infections. Zinc deficiency is responsible for 4% of global child morbidity and mortality¹. Zinc supplements given for 10–14 days together with low-osmolarity oral rehydration solution (Lo-ORS) are recommended for the treatment of childhood diarrhoea. In children aged ≥6 months, daily zinc supplements reduces the duration of acute diarrhoea episodes by 12 hours and persistent diarrhoea by 17 hours. The present study was undertaken to study the effect of zinc supplementation in the treatment of acute paediatric diarrhoea. A retrospective observational study was conducted among paediatric patients in JNIMS paediatric ward for a period of 6 months from October 2020 to March 2021.A total of 160 case sheets were collected for the study.{92(57.5%) males and 68 (42.5%) females}. The data collected included demographics of the children, diagnosis and line of management. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the observations. The group of patients receiving ORS with Zinc showed significant reduction in frequency of diarrhoeal episodes on the third day of treatment as compared to the group of patients given only ORS without Zinc (p<0.001). Administration of Zinc with ORS was found to reduce the mean duration of hospital stay.