Outcome of "out of hospital" cardiopulmonary arrest in children admitted to the emergency room.
BACKGROUND
The outcome of cardiopulmonary arrest in children is poor, with many survivors suffering from severe neurological defects. There are few data on the survival rate following cardiopulmonary arrest in children who arrived at the emergency room without a palpable pulse.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the survival rate and epidemiology of cardiopulmonary arrest in children who arrived without a palpable pulse at a pediatric ER in southern Israel.


METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all patients with cardiopulmonary arrest who arrived at the ER of the Soroka University Medical Center during the period January 1995 to June 1997.


RESULTS
The study group included 35 patients. Resuscitation efforts were attempted on 20, but the remaining 15 showed signs of death and were not resuscitated. None of the patients survived, although one patient survived the resuscitation but succumbed a few hours later. The statistics show that more cardiopulmonary arrests occurred among Bedouins than among Jews (32 vs. 3, P < 0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
The probability of survival from cardiopulmonary arrest in children who arrive at the emergency room without palpable pulse is extremely low. Bedouin children have a much higher risk of suffering from out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest than Jewish children.
Broides
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Pediatric Emergency Room, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer Sheva, Israel. arnonb@hotmail.com
Sofer
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Press
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D000293:Adolescent; D018912:Arabs; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000208:ethnology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D015996:Survival Rate