Potential Role of Vitamins and Zinc on Acute Respiratory Infections Including Covid-19.

Background. Vitamin C, E, D, A, zinc are considered to be essential in preventing and treating of acute respiratory infections (ARI) including COVID-19. Methods. We reviewed published studies evaluating the potential roles of these vitamin and zinc for ARIs and COVID-19 using Medline database, medRxiv, and bibliographic references. Results. Vitamins C, D, and E did not reduce incidence of common cold in general, but vitamin C reduced by half in population with physical and environment stresses. Vitamins C and E shortened duration and reduced severity of common cold. A large-dose vitamin A had no effect on recovery from pneumonia. Zinc improved clinical deterioration and pneumonia duration in under five. The effect on preventing COVID-19 morbidity and related-death was lacking. Conclusions. Although the effects of vitamins and zinc on ARIs including COVID-19 were inconclusive, taking these for a short period during pandemic may be beneficial when there is risks of deficiency.

Myocarditis Prevalence in Paediatric Dengue Infection: A Prospective Study in Tertiary Hospital in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Awareness of cardiac involvement in dengue infection has potentially valuable management implications. To determine the prevalence of myocarditis in dengue severity, we conducted prospective study of paediatric dengue illness at Dr. Sardjito General Hospital, a tertiary hospital in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, from period of July 2015 to May 2016. World Health Organization (WHO) Dengue Guideline 2011 classification system was used. Diagnosis of dengue infection was made based on either by dengue serology and/or NS1 test. Myocarditis was assessed based on elevation of cardiac enzymes, as creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), Troponin I (TnI) and by electrocardiography (ECG). Proportion between groups was compared using the Fisher's exact test. We analysed 50 children with diagnosis of dengue fever (DF), 12 of dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) and 23 of dengue shock syndrome (DSS). Myocarditis diagnosed in 53%, 75% and 96% of DF, DHF and DSS, respectively. We found that myocarditis was more prevalent significantly in DSS than DF (p = 0.003).

The impact of prenatal vitamin A and zinc supplementation on birth size and neonatal survival - a double-blind, randomized controlled trial in a rural area of Indonesia.

BACKGROUND: Prenatal supplementation with micronutrients may increase birth weight and thus improve infant health and survival in settings where infants and children are at risk of micronutrient deficiencies. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether vitamin A and/or zinc supplementation given during pregnancy can improve birth weight, birth length, neonatal morbidity, or infant mortality. METHODS: A double-blind, randomized controlled trial supplementing women (n = 2173) in Central Java, Indonesia throughout pregnancy with vitamin A, zinc, combined vitamin A+zinc, or placebo. RESULTS: Out of 2173 supplemented pregnant women, 1956 neonates could be evaluated. Overall, zinc supplementation improved birth length compared to placebo or combined vitamin A+zinc (48.8 vs. 48.5 cm, p = 0.04); vitamin A supplementation improved birth length compared to placebo or combined vitamin A+zinc (48.7 vs. 48.2 cm, p = 0.04). These effects remained after adjusting for maternal height, pre-pregnancy weight, and parity. There was no effect of supplementation on birth weight, the proportion of low birth weight, neonatal morbidity, or mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal zinc or vitamin A supplementation demonstrates a small but significant effect on birth length, but supplementation with zinc, vitamin A or a combination of zinc and vitamin A, have no effect on birth weight, neonatal morbidity, or mortality.

The impact of prenatal vitamin A and zinc supplementation on growth of children up to 2 years of age in rural Java, Indonesia.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether prenatal vitamin A and/or Zn supplementation affects postnatal growth. DESIGN: Follow-up of a randomized controlled trial monitoring growth in children from birth up to 24 months of age. SETTING: Central Java, Indonesia. SUBJECTS: Children (n 343) of mothers participating in a double-blinded, randomized controlled study of vitamin A and/or Zn supplementation during pregnancy. We report the effects of prenatal supplementation on infant growth, measured as weight-for-age Z-scores (WAZ), height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) and weight-for-height Z-scores (WHZ ), from 0 to 24 months, as well as differences in growth faltering among the supplementation groups. RESULTS: For HAZ, the absolute differences between the vitamin A-only and vitamin A + Zn groups at 3 and 9 months were 0·34 SD and 0·37 SD, respectively, and the absolute difference between the vitamin A-only and Zn-only groups at 18 months was 0·31 SD. Compared with placebo, none of the supplements affected growth. Defining growth faltering as a downward crossing of two or more major percentile lines, 50-75% of the children were found to be growth faltering within 9 months of age, whereas 17% and 8% scored <-2 SD for WAZ and HAZ, respectively. Prenatal supplementation did not reduce the prevalence of growth faltering. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal vitamin A supplementation had a small but significant effect on postnatal growth of children's length until 18 months of age compared with supplementation with either vitamin A + Zn or Zn alone, but not compared with placebo. It had no effects on other anthropometric measures and did not reduce the prevalence of growth faltering. Future studies should duplicate these findings before recommendations can be made.