RESUMEN
Despite the rapid diagnosis and treatment of diarrhea, it is still a health problem among infants and children. It has been shown that zinc deficiency, which is common in Iran, is one of the important causes of the diarrhea, Therefore, the aim of this study was to find the effects of zinc supplement on treatment period of acute diarrhea in 6 to 36 month old children. This double-blind clinical trial study was performed on 200 children with non-invasive acute diarrhea hospitalized in Amir Kabir hospital Arak. They were divided into two groups of the case and control by simple random assignment. The case and the control group had 3 mg/kg/day zinc and placebo, respectively. Independent t-test was used for analysis. The mean age of the children was 14.07 +/- 8.18 months. The average of hospital admission days for the case and control group was 3.14 +/- 0.125 and 3.59 +/- 1.83 days, respectively [p<0.05]. Also, the mean of admission days for children with moderate dehydration in the case and control groups was 2.69 +/- 0.73 and 3.11 +/- 1.29 days, respectively [p<0.05]. In the children with severe dehydration in the case and control group, it was 4.65 +/- 1.46 and 5.22 +/- 2.7 days, respectively [p<0.05]. The duration of admission of the case group was 3.29 +/- 1.41 days for children with 6-12 months, 3 +/- 0.98 days for children with 13-24 months, and 2.9 +/- 1.25 days for children with 35-36 months old [p>0.05]. Based on the results, zinc supplement reduces duration of diarrhea in the children with acute diarrhea. Therefore, it is recommended for treatment of this syndrome in these children