Cross-Sectional Comparative study to find out the efficacy of Probiotic in case of children of Acute watery diarrhea(AWD)

Objectives: Diarrhea is a diseases with high fatality rate and having a significant impact on the health and well being of children. In addition to ORS, effectiveness of zinc is already established. Use of probiotic in AWD is a new era of treatment. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of zinc-probiotics combination therapy to zinc monotherapy in reducing the severity of AWD. Method: This was a cross-sectional compative study which was conducted from july 1,2019 to june 30, 2020 in the department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at Sylhet M.A.G Osmani medical college Hospital. Total number of 128 patients with acute watery diarrhea ages between 6 months to 5 years were enrolled those who were fulfilled the selection criteria. Participants were subsequently randomized into two group. Group A were treated with Zinc(2mg/kg/day in two divided dose for 14 days), Probiotic(1capsule mixed with 1 tsf of water two times a day for 5 days) and Group B were treated with Zinc(2mg/kg/day in two divided dose for 14 days). Sufficient amount of ORS(Oral rehydration Solution) were supplied to the patients according to their requirement .Patients were followed up for changes of consistency of diarrhea, severity of diarrhea (both frequency and duration),duration of hospital stay for 7 days. Result: The Study covered, in Group A 57.81% male and 42.19% female where as in Group B 51.56% male and 48.44% female. Stool consistency have improved in Group A then Group B (liquid stool 3.13% versus on day 2 (p<0.001).Frequency of stool passing became less than two on third day in Zinc Group A and on fifth day in Group B. Based on the Vesikari severity scoring system, the score became below one on fifth day in Group A and on sixth day in Group B. In Vesikari severity score grading system, all the patients of Zinc + Probiotic Groups became mild on fifth day and of Zinc only Group on sixth day of treatment. Mean duration of hospital stay was significantly (p = <0.001) less in Zinc + Probiotic Group (3.36±0.545 days) than Zinc only Group (4.38±0.63 days).