The efficacy of zinc as an adjuvant therapy in the treatment of severe pneumonia in children between 2 months to 2 years of age.

Abstract

Objective: To compare the efficacy of zinc as an adjuvant therapy in the treatment of severe pneumonia in children between 2 months to 2 years of age. Study Design: Case Control study. Setting: Department of Paediatrics, Mayo Hospital Lahore. Period: 20 February 2019 to 20 August 2019. Material & Methods: After approval of Institutional Review board of King Edward Medical University Lahore Pakistan total 200 cases were selected by Consecutive (non probability) sampling and were divided into 2 groups each containing 100 cases. Group A children were given 20 mg elemental zinc per day plus Ampicillin plus cloxacillin while Group B patients were given only on Ampicillin plus cloxacillin. Mean + Standard deviation were calculated for continuous variables like age, base line zinc level and duration of fever. Post stratification chi square test was applied in which P value ≤0.05 will be considered as significant value. Results: Mean Age was recorded as 09 Months ± 5.54 in Group A while in Group B it was recorded as 12 Months ± 6.47. In Group A, 56 (56%) infants showed improvement who were administered zinc while 44 (44%) did not. Similarly, in Group B, 38 (38%) infant patients showed improvement who were not administered zinc whereas 62 (62%) did not show any improvement. This improvement was statistically significant P Value = 0.010. Conclusion: This study revealed a statistically significant efficacy estimate for zinc in the resolution of severe pneumonia.