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 d ata on the survival rate following cardiopulmonary arrest in children who a rrived at the emergency room without a palpable pulse. Objective: To determine the survival rate and epidemiology of cardiopulmona ry arrest in children who arrived without a palpable pulse at a pediatric E R in southern Israel. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all patients wi th cardiopulmonary arrest who arrived at the ER of the Soroka University Me dical Center during the period January 1995 to June 1997. Results: The study group included 35 patients. Resuscitation efforts were a ttempted on 20, but the remaining 15 showed signs of death and were not res uscitated. None of the patients survived, although one patient survived the resuscitation but succumbed a few hours later. The statistics show that mo re cardiopulmonary arrests occurred among Bedouins than among Jews (32 vs. 3, P<0.0001). Conclusions: The probability of survival from cardiopulmonary arrest in chi ldren who arrive at the emergency room without palpable pulse is extremely low. Bedouin children have a much higher risk of suffering from out-of-hosp ital cardiopulmonary arrest than Jewish children.