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Introduction: Acute diarrhea remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality among infants and young children as well as an important determinant of growth faltering in the world. Significant proportions of children who suffer from diarrhea are malnourished with depleted micronutrient stores. Diarrhea also leads to excess loss of micronutrients such as zinc and copper. Methods: This study was a clinical trial. The samples were collected from the children admitted. The children were randomly assigned to zinc and control groups among which zinc group received 2 mg/kg of zinc supplementation daily. A questionnaire was utilized as the research instrument containing the demographic information as well as number of stools and duration of admission. Results: After starting supplementation, the mean duration of diarrhea was 3.7±0.95 days in the zinc group and 4.6±1.8 days in the control group, showing a significant difference (P<0.05). The number of stools after starting zinc supplementation were 6.2±3.6 and 6.8±4.1 on the first day, 4.3±2.9 and 4.6±2.9 on the second day, 2.5±1.8 and 3.3±2.4 on the third day, 2.2±1.1 and 2.7±2 on the fourth day, 2±1.4 and 2.6±1.8 on the fifth day, and 0 and 3.6±1.6 on the sixth day in the zinc and control groups respectively. There was no significant difference in diarrhea severity in the treatment group (P>0.05) except on the sixth day. Conclusion: Zinc supplementation reduces the duration of acute diarrhea in admitted 1-60 month old children but has no effects on severity of acute diarrhea except on the sixth day of diarrhea duration.

Keywords: Acute Diarrhea; Admitted Children; Clinical Trial; Zinc Supplementation

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