Impact of Home Zinc Treatment for Acute Diarrhea in Children
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2009-04-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Background. Zinc deficiency is common in Africa. It has been shown in Asia that zinc as
treatment for diarrhea can shorten the course of episodes of diarrhea, as well as prevent
future episodes. The use of zinc at home to treat diarrhea in an African setting, where
malaria, HIV and malnutrition are common, has not been well-studied.
Objective. To evaluate if zinc treatment for diarrhea given at home in Kenyan children will
decrease the community prevalence of diarrhea more than zinc given only in the clinic Work
planned. We propose to do a community-randomized intervention study of 10 days of dispersible
zinc tablets given in the home, in addition to ORS, to treat diarrhea in children under-5
years of age living in a rural part of Bondo District. The comparison group will be children
who receive zinc and ORS in the clinic only. The primary outcome will be a comparison of the
prevalence of diarrhea in home zinc versus nonhome zinc villages. Secondary outcomes will be
the incidence of repeat episodes of diarrhea, the duration of diarrheal illness, the
prevalence of acute respiratory infection, and the effect of malaria infection on treatment
with zinc. Thirty-three villages (approximately 1300 children) will be enrolled and children
will be followed for 1 year.
Significance of results. If this study shows zinc given at home to be effective, this might
be considered by the Kenyan MOH as an essential component of the treatment of diarrhea in
children at the community level.
Phase:
Phase 3
Details
Lead Sponsor:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Collaborators:
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh Kenya Medical Research Institute