Children's Survival from Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: Pediatric Versus General EDs

Investigators queried the 2009–2014 National Emergency Department Sample database to examine whether children (<18 years of age) with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) have higher survival if they are transported to pediatric emergency departments (EDs) compared with general EDs.

The analysis included more than 11,000 pediatric cardiac arrest encounters, representing more than 51,000 encounters nationally. The incidence of nontraumatic and traumatic OHCA was 8 and 3 per 100,000 person-years, respectively. Overall, 92% of children were resuscitated in general EDs. The unadjusted rate of survival to hospital discharge or transfer was significantly higher in pediatric EDs than general EDs for nontraumatic OHCA (34% vs. 19%); for traumatic O…