Introduction:
Although registry and administrative data suggest that >6000 children have in-hospital cardiac arrests each year, most occur in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs), and 39% survive to hospital discharge, prospective research quality data on the incidence and outcomes of PICU CPR are not currently available.
Objectives:
To determine the incidence and outcomes CPR provided in PICUs.
Methods:
Multi-center prospective observational study of children <18 years old randomly selected and intensively followed from PICU admission to hospital discharge in the NICHD-funded Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network from December 2011 to April 2013.
Results:
Among 10,078 children enrolled, 139 (1.4%) received CPR for ≥1 minute and/or defibrillation. Of these children, 78% attained return of circulation, 45% survived to hospital discharge, and 89% of survivors had favorable neurological outcomes. The relative incidence of CPR events was higher for cardiac patients compared with non-cardiac patients (3.4% versus 0.8%, p<0.001), but survival rate to hospital discharge with favorable neurological outcome was not statistically different (41% versus 39%, respectively). Shorter duration of CPR was associated with higher survival rates: 66% [29/44] survived to hospital discharge after 1-3 minutes of CPR versus 28% [9/32] after >30 minutes, p<0.001. Among survivors, 26/29 (90%) had a favorable neurological outcome after 1-3 minutes versus 8/9 (89%) after >30 minutes of CPR.
Conclusions:
These data establish that contemporary PICU CPR, including long durations of CPR, results in high rates of survival to hospital discharge (45%) and favorable neurologic outcomes among survivors (89%). Rates of survival with favorable neurologic outcomes were similar among cardiac and non-cardiac patients. The rigorous prospective, observational study design avoided the limitations of missing data and potential selection biases inherent in registry and administrative data.
Antepartum, Intrapartum, and Postpartum Predictors of Readiness for Hospital Discharge and Post-Discharge Outcomes
