BACKGROUND Diarrhea is a leading cause of death among children <5 years of age and can have long-term adverse consequences for human development. The World Health Organization has recommended the therapeutic use of zinc for the treatment of diarrhea, along with oral rehydration solutions, since 2004. We studied recent trends in the use of zinc to treat diarrhea in 23 low- and middle-income countries. METHODS A repeated cross-sectional design of 46 Demographic and Health Surveys from 23 countries was used to estimate the average annual change in zinc treatment across recent years. The earlier surveys were conducted in different years from 2009 to 2014, and the latest surveys were conducted in different years from 2015 to 2023, with an average gap of 6 years between surveys. A diarrhea episode during the 2 weeks before the survey and the treatment of diarrhea using zinc and oral rehydration solutions among children <5 years old was identified using an interview with mothers. RESULTS In the pooled sample, the treatment of diarrhea in children <5 years of age using zinc increased from 2% in the earlier surveys to 27% in the more recent surveys, or an average annual increase of 4 percentage points (pp). The prevalence of zinc treatment increased in all 23 countries, ranging from 9 pp per year on average in Sierra Leone to 1 pp in Cambodia. CONCLUSIONS A large increase in the use of therapeutic zinc to treat diarrhea in children was observed in recent years. However, coverage remains incomplete.

中文翻译：

---

锌治疗腹泻的国际趋势。


背景 腹泻是 <5 岁儿童死亡的主要原因，可能对人类发育产生长期的不良后果。自 2004 年以来，世界卫生组织一直建议将锌与口服补液溶液一起用于治疗腹泻。我们研究了 23 个低收入和中等收入国家使用锌治疗腹泻的最新趋势。方法 对来自 46 个国家的 23 项人口和健康调查进行重复横断面设计，以估计近年来锌处理的平均年变化。较早的调查是在 2009 年至 2014 年的不同年份进行的，最近的调查是在 2015 年至 2023 年的不同年份进行的，两次调查之间的平均间隔为 6 年。通过对母亲的采访，确定了调查前 2 周内的腹泻发作以及使用锌和口服补液溶液治疗 <5 岁儿童的腹泻。结果 在汇总样本中，使用锌治疗儿童 <5 的腹泻从早期调查的 2% 增加到最近调查的 27%，或平均每年增加 4 个百分点 （pp）。锌治疗的流行率在所有 23 个国家都有所增加，从塞拉利昂的平均每年 9 个百分点到柬埔寨的 1 个百分点不等。结论 近年来，治疗性锌治疗儿童腹泻的使用大幅增加。然而，覆盖范围仍然不完整。