In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest in Children and Adults

The first documented pulseless rhythm often differed between children and adults, but even adults frequently had first rhythms that were not “shockable.”

In adults, cardiac arrests are often due to ventricular fibrillation (VF) or pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VT) in the presence of underlying coronary artery disease (CAD). Children with cardiac arrest rarely have CAD; commonly documented rhythms are bradycardia, asystole, or pulseless electrical activity (PEA) generally resulting from progressive tissue hypoxia and acidosis (due to respiratory failure, circulatory shock, or both).

These researchers acquired insights about in-hospital cardiac arrest from National Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation data (January 2000 through March 2004) on 36,902 adults and 880 children with pulseless cardiac arrests requiring chest compressions, defibrillation, or both. Neonatal cardiac arrests in…

Reviewing Author

Hugh Calkins, MD