Cárcamo 2006 PER.

Methods	Country: Peru Setting: tertiary hospitals Duration of recruitment: June 1998 to Jan 2000 Duration of follow‐up: 2 weeks Design: randomized placebo‐controlled trial
Participants	Inclusion criteria: HIV‐seropositive, persistent diarrhoea (≥ 7 days) without prior treatment Exclusion criteria: none stated Participants randomized: 159 49 female and 110 male Median age = 30 years (range 19 to 57) in zinc group Median age = 31 years (range 19 to 64) in placebo group Loss to follow‐up/withdrawal: 51 Exclusions postrandomization: 0
Interventions	Intervention: zinc sulphate (100 mg) Control: placebo Duration: daily for 14 days
Outcomes	Primary outcomes Persistence of diarrhoea Time until cessation of diarrhoea Secondary outcomes: Plasma zinc and copper levels
Adverse events	Gastrointestinal symptoms attributable to the medication (nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain) similar in both treatment groups
Notes	Sulfamethoxazole‐trimethoprim prescribed for participants with enteric bacterial pathogens (23 in zinc group and 12 in placebo) Source of funding: Fogarty IARTP grant; University of Washington Center for AIDS Research; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	The trial authors used computer‐generated blocked randomization.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	The trial authors stated that the treatment allocators were unable to access the assignment roll.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Participants and investigators were blinded.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	There were high losses to follow‐up in both groups (34.6% intervention group versus 29.5% control group).
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	There was insufficient information; the trial protocol was unavailable.
Other bias	Unclear risk	The trial authors did not declare on conflict of interest, if any.