Zinc with oral rehydration therapy reduces stool output and duration of diarrhea in hospitalized children: a randomized controlled trial.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Zinc in this randomized controlled trial publication.

The authors evaluated the effect of zinc treatment as an adjunct to oral rehydration therapy on stool output and diarrheal duration in children with acute noncholera diarrhea with dehydration.

Who Took Part

The study group was 287 patients.

PubMed indexes the participants as infants and young children, men only.

A total of 287 dehydrated male patients, ages 3 to 36 months, with diarrhea for <or= 72 hours were enrolled.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Zinc and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the patients nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Zinc, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some patients received a placebo instead of Zinc, giving a reference point.

This double-blind, randomized, controlled trial was conducted at two urban hospitals in New Delhi.

The main outcome measures were stool output and diarrheal duration.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Acute Disease, Copper, Diarrhea, Diarrhea, Infantile, Eating, Erythrocyte Indices and Fluid Therapy.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Zinc in 287 patients.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 4 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2004 (Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition), a journal based in United States.

More context: the related Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc library page, all human trials.