A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of the efficacy of treatment with zinc in children with intractable epilepsy

Saad, Khaled and El-Houfey, Amira A. and El-Hamed, Mohamed A. Abd and El-Asheer, Osama M. and Al-Atram, Abdulrahman A. and Tawfeek, Mostafa S. K. (2015) A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of the efficacy of treatment with zinc in children with intractable epilepsy. Functional Neurology, 30 (3). pp. 181-185. ISSN 1971-3274

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Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the efficacy of oral zinc supplementation in children with intractable epilepsy. Forty-five children aged between three and 12 years and diagnosed with idiopathic intractable epilepsy at Assiut University Hospital, Assiut, Egypt were recruited. The patients were randomly allocated to two groups: the intervention group received oral zinc supplementation (1 mg/kg/day) while the placebo group received placebo, each for six months. The parents of each child filled in a detailed questionnaire that covered demographic characteristics, type of seizures, frequency, duration of seizures, previous hospital admissions, postictal phenomena and the occurrence of status epilepticus. The primary outcome (frequency of seizures) was compared between the two groups. Zinc supplementation resulted in a significant reduction of seizure frequency in 31% of the treated children. Zinc is an important trace element. Our results suggest that it has mildly beneficial effects in children with intractable epilepsy. We recommend further investigation of oral zinc supplementation as an adjunctive therapy for managing intractable epilepsy in children. Zinc therapy may be an option in treatment protocols for intractable epilepsy in the near future.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Children, intractable epilepsy, zinc
Subjects: 600 Tecnologia - Scienze applicate > 610 Medicina e salute (Classificare qui la tecnologia dei servizi medici) > 616 Malattie (classificare qui la Clinica medica, la medicina basata sull'evidenza, la Medicina interna, la Medicina sperimentale) > 616.8 Malattie del sistema nervoso e disturbi mentali (Classificare qui la Neuropsichiatria, la Neurologia)
Depositing User: Marina Spanti
Date Deposited: 24 Sep 2019 11:39
Last Modified: 24 Sep 2019 11:39
URI: http://eprints.bice.rm.cnr.it/id/eprint/12592

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