Role of zinc supplementation in treatment of pneumonia

Aim: to compare the mean duration of treatment with and without zinc supplementation as adjunct to antibiotic treatment for pneumonia in children 2 to 59 months of age. method: this present study was randomized controlled trial conducted at department of pediatrics,fatima memorial hospital,and lahore. in this study non probability purposive sampling technique was used. after taking approval from ethical committee of hospital,100 children fulfilling the selection criteria were enrolled. informed consent from parents was taken. demographic information (name,age,sex,address) were obtained. children were randomly divided into two groups by using lottery method. groups a was get standard antimicrobial (ceftriaxone) treatment only. group z got zinc as adjunct therapy and standard antibiotics (ceftriaxone). oral zinc was given in dosage of 10mg once daily in <1 year children and 10mg twice daily to children <1year old. duration of recovery was noted from start of treatment till resolution of symptoms. both groups were compared for mean duration of recovery by using independent sample t<0.05 was considered as significant. results: total 100 cases were enrolled in this study. the mean age of the children was noted as 28.94±17.58 month with minimum and maximum age of 2 & 59 days respectively. the study results showed 43% patients were males while 57% patients were females. in this study 50(50%) patients were appeared with resolution of temperature and 50(50%) appeared with no resolution of temperature resolution of tachypnea was observed in 61% patients whereas it was not observed in 39% patients. conclusion: addition of zinc as adjunct to standard treatment for pneumonia is beneficial in reducing the course of treatment. moreover,helpful in reducing duration of disease symptoms.