Abstract | OBJECTIVE: DESIGN: Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. SETTING: A large childrens' hospital serving the urban poor in Kolkata, India. SUBJECTS: Children aged 2-35 months admitted with severe ALRI. INTERVENTION: In total, 174 children were randomly assigned to receive alpha-tocopherol 200 mg and ascorbic acid 100 mg twice daily or placebo for 5 days. All children received standard treatment for severe ALRI. Outcome measures were: time taken to recover from a very ill status, fever, tachypnoea, and feeding difficulty; and improvement in oxidative stress and immune response indicated by thiobarbituric acid reacting substances ( TBARS) and response to skin antigens, respectively. RESULTS: Recovery rate ratios (95% CI) using proportional hazards model were 0.89 (0.64-1.25), 1.01 (0.72-1.41), 0.86 (0.57-1.29), and 1.12 (0.77-1.64) for very ill status, feeding difficulty, fever, and tachypnoea, respectively. TBARS values were high and similar in the two groups at admission, discharge, and at 2 weeks follow-up. Serum alpha-tocopherol significantly increased in treated group at discharge. Immune response to skin antigens were very poor at admission and after 2 weeks, in both groups. CONCLUSION: Infants with severe ALRI failed to benefit from two antioxidant nutrients as adjunct therapy. Severe ALRI in infants may cause cell-mediated immune dysfunction. We need a better understanding of oxidative processes in growing infants to help us better design interventions with antioxidant therapy.
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Authors | D Mahalanabis, M Basak, D Paul, S Gupta, S Shaikh, M A Wahed, M A Khaled |
Journal | European journal of clinical nutrition
(Eur J Clin Nutr)
Vol. 60
Issue 5
Pg. 673-80
(May 2006)
ISSN: 0954-3007 [Print] England |
PMID | 16391588
(Publication Type: Journal Article, Randomized Controlled Trial, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
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Chemical References |
- Antioxidants
- Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances
- Vitamin E
- Ascorbic Acid
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Topics |
- Acute Disease
- Antioxidants
(metabolism, therapeutic use)
- Ascorbic Acid
(metabolism, therapeutic use)
- Child, Preschool
- Double-Blind Method
- Female
- Humans
- Immunity, Cellular
- India
- Infant
- Male
- Oxidation-Reduction
- Oxidative Stress
(drug effects)
- Proportional Hazards Models
- Respiratory Tract Infections
(drug therapy)
- Severity of Illness Index
- Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances
(analysis)
- Treatment Outcome
- Vitamin E
(metabolism, therapeutic use)
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