ABSTRACT
Diarrheal diseases in children are associated with malnutrition and zinc deficiency, in particular persistent diarrhea. To evaluate the serum zinc level and nutritional state among children with persistent diarrhea in comparison with those with acute diarrhea and healthy control. Over a period of five months, 25 children complaining from persistent diarrhea were admitted to Maternity and Children Hospital in Ramadi city and studied to assess the level of serum zinc and nutritional state. Twenty two children presented with acute diarrhea and another 18 healthy children were matched for age and sex used as control. Serum zinc level was measured using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The mean serum zinc level among children with persistent diarrhea, 68.8 microg/dL was significantly lower than that found among healthy control group, 82.1 microg/dL. Significant numbers of children with persistent diarrhea were found to have moderate and severe malnutrition when compared to those with acute diarrhea. On the other hand the duration of diarrhea was found to have strong negative linear correlation with weight for height and weight for age among children with diarrheal disease. We conclude that persistent diarrhea is associated with low serum zinc level and acute malnutrition. We recommend further studies to evaluate the impact of zinc supplementation among children with persistent diarrhea