The Role of Zinc Sulfate in Acute Bronchiolitis in Patients Aged 2 to 23 Months

OBJECTIVE: Evaluating the effect of zinc sulfate in improving the clinical manifestations of acute bronchiolitis in children younger than 2 years. METHODS: This was a double blind pilot trial on 50 patients aged 2 to 23 months at Ghaem and Dr. Sheikh Hospitals in Mashhad from January 2008 to March 2009. Patients were randomly divided into two groups: a case group received oral zinc sulfate and to the control group was given placebo. FINDINGS: Mean age of case group was 168.0±108.6 days and control group 169.2±90.4 days (P=0.98) with male predominance in both groups. At first there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in reducing the symptoms. But 24 hours after treating, improvement of some important manifestations including tachypnea, subcostal and intercostal retraction, wheezing and cyanosis revealed statistically significant difference in control group in comparison with case group (P=0.04). CONCLUSION: Zinc sulfate has no benefit in improving clinical manifestations of acute bronchiolitis.