Table 4 Population, topics and outcomes reported in the included reviews

Preventive zinc

14 (7/7)

Pregnancy (2)

Children <5 (7)

Adult (1)

General population (1)

Supplementation during pregnancy and outcome assessment: 2

Supplementation to children under five and impact on growth: 2

Supplementation to children and impact on infections: 4

•Anthropometric Indices

•APGAR

•All-cause mortality

•Age-specific mortality

•Cause-specific mortality (diarrhoea, pneumonia)

•Neonatal (birth weight, linear growth)

•Morbidity (incidence and duration of ARI, diabetes, otitis media)

•Haemoglobin level

LMIC (n = 8)

HIC (n = 1)

Both (n = 2)

Breast feeding

16 (11/05)

Pregnant + reproductive age woman (7)

Children (5)

General population (2)

Interventions to promote breast feeding: 6

•Initiation, duration and exclusive breast feeding

•Neonatal and infant morbidities

•Anthropometric indices

•Maternal satisfaction

•Cognitive development

•Neonatal mortality

•Micronutrient status

•Maternal weight loss

•Breast and ovarian cancer

•Osteoporosis

•Pain

•Maternal morbidities

LMIC (n = 1)

HIC (n = 6)

Both (n = 4)

Not clear (2)

Complementary feeding

06 (1/5)

Children (6)

Education and counselling interventions to promote complementary feeding: 5

•Anthropometric indices

•Micronutrient intake and status

•Morbidity

LMIC (n = 6)

Preventive multiple micronutrient supplementation

14 (4/10)

Pregnant + reproductive age woman (6)

Children (2)

Women and children (4)

Adult men (1)

Supplementation during and prior to pregnancy and its impact on pregnancy outcome: 9

Supplementation to HIV-infected women and children: 2

•Birth weight

•Kwashiorkor

•Prematurity, SGA, LBW

•Stillbirth, neonatal and perinatal mortality

•Premature rupture of membranes

•Preeclampsia

•Miscarriage

•Congenital anomalies

•Nutritional status

•Micronutrient level

•Maternal anaemia

•Multiple pregnancies

•Psychological effects

•HIV transmission and viral load

•Prostate cancer occurrence, metastasis, mortality

LMIC (n = 4)

HIC (n = 2)

Both (n = 4)

Not clear (3)

Therapeutic zinc

12 (4/8)

Children (6)

General population (5)

Adult (1)

Adult supplementation and its impact on cold symptoms: 2

Supplementation among children and impact on diarrhoea and pneumonia: 6

•Ulcer healing (time, rate)

•Incidence, severity and duration of cold

•Pneumonia: incidence, duration and recurrence of pneumonia. Recovery time and hospitalization

•Adverse effects

•Lipid profile

•Incidence and duration of malaria and TB

•Hospital stay, cost and mortality of critically ill patients

LMIC (n = 3)

HIC (n = 4)

Both (n = 3)

Not clear (2)

Interventions for undernutrition

11 (4/7)

Children (11)

Management of under nutrition through supplementary feeding: 9

•Kwashiorkor

•Cognitive development

•Hospitalization

•Anthropometric indices

•Recurrent illnesses

•Mortality

•HIV prevalence and mortality

•Morbidity: diarrhoea, malaria and ARI

•Maternal knowledge, anxiety

LMIC (n = 11)

Therapeutic multiple micronutrient supplementation

11 (3/8)

Children (1)

Adults (4)

Adult Men (1)

Population with HIV (4)

HIV-infected populations: 5

•Infant mortality

•Anthropometric indices

•Micronutrient levels

•Anaemia

•Mental and motor development

•Pregnancy outcomes

•HIV progression, transmission and viral load

•HIV hospitalization, morbidity and mortality

•Fasting glucose and insulin resistance

•Treatment and length of hospitalization of TB

•Age-related disorders like age-related macular degeneration and cataract

•Occurrence, metastasis and mortality due to prostate cancer

LMIC (n = 1)

HIC (n = 2)

Both (n = 4)

Not clear (4)

Fortification (folic acid)

02 (0/2)

Pregnant and women of reproductive age (1)

General population (1)

•Neural tube defect

•Neonatal mortality for NTD

•Twining

Both (n = 2)

Conditional cash transfers (CCT)

4 (1/3)

General population (4)

All 4 reviews assessed the impact CCT on health outcomes

•Coverage of health service

•Access to health care

•Household health expenditure

•Nutritional outcomes

LMIC (n = 2)

Both (n = 2)