2010 American Heart Association recommended compression depths during pediatric in-hospital resuscitations are associated with survival

Aim: Gaps exist in pediatric resuscitation knowledge due to limited data collected during cardiac arrest in real children. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the 2010 American Heart Association (AHA) recommended chest compression (CC) depth (≥51 mm) and survival following pediatric resuscitation attempts.

Methods: Single-center prospectively collected and retrospectively analyzed observational study of children (>1 year) who received CCs between October 2006 and September 2013 in the intensive care unit (ICU) or emergency department (ED) at a tertiary care children's hospital. Multivariate logistic regression models controlling for calendar year and known potential confounders were used to estimate the association between 2010 AHA depth compliance and survival outcomes. The primary outcome was 24-h survival. The primary predictor variable was event AHA depth compliance, prospectively defined as an event with ≥60% of 30-s epochs achieving an average CC depth ≥51 mm during the first 5 min of the resuscitation.

Results: There were 89 CC events, 87 with quantitative CPR data collected (23 AHA depth compliant). AHA depth compliant events were associated with improved 24-h survival on both univariate analysis (70% vs. 16%, p<0.001) and after controlling for potential confounders (calendar year of arrest, gender, first documented rhythm; aOR 10.3; CI(95): 2.75-38.8; p<0.001).

Conclusions: 2010 AHA compliant chest compression depths (≥51 mm) are associated with higher 24-h survival compared to shallower chest compression depths, even after accounting for potentially confounding patient and event factors.