Kids with heart problem rarely survive after CPR The finding indicated that CPR was definitely required by one in every 135 children who were admitted with cardiovascular ailments.On the other hand, children with healthy hearts received CPR at the rate of one in every 1,850 admitted. These are reports from the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics).

The general mortality following CPR treatment was 40% more in kids with heart ailments as compared to those without. The rate was more than double the digits though most of the cases were reliant on the diagnosis made.

Dr Adam Lowry, of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s hospital which is in Houston, said that “Mortality after CPR remains high, about 50% in children with or without cardiovascular disease.” He further added that structural or congenital heart ailments among young kids with heart diseases significantly contributed to most of the cases. He said that this particular group desperately needs CPR even though their chances of survival are slim even after the procedure.

CPR rates and kids with heart ailments

2% – 6% of kids in the ICU and pediatric cardiac units received CPR. Children in hospitals were 100 times more likely to get CPR as compared to those who suffered from attacks while outside hospital settings. The data used was low, which meant Dr. Lowry had to dig deep and utilize information from KID (Kid’s Inpatient Database) which included information from the years 2000, 2003 and 2006. Each year consisted of over three million pediatric hospitalizations. ICD-9 codes were used to identify the episodes of CPR.

Structural heart diseases accounted for about 89% of all kids admitted with a heart ailment. A rate of 1 in 1000 hospitalization was identified by the professionals of the study. 13:8 was the definitive ratio of children with heart ailments against admitted children without cardiac diseases. The chances varied from 11.2 for kids with structural heart ailments to 45.2 for kids suffering from myocarditis.

Analyzing the data found

The chances of survival for children with structural heart disease remained four times higher when compared to those who were admitted without any heart ailment. The mortality rate for kids with healthy hearts stood at 48.6% for kids with hearts that were healthy and 56.3% for kids who were suffering from cardiovascular diseases.

There was a slight difference established with a ration of 1.3 for kids with structural heart ailments and 1.4 for kids with any cardiovascular ailment. The highest mortality risk was experienced among children who were suffering from coronary pathology.

Dr. Lowry identified some weaknesses with the conclusion of the study. They included various aspects such as over dependency on ICD codes to classify CPR trials, lack of sufficient data in the administrative database and the study’s retrospective character. He added while answering to a question from the crowd that the data might not be as substantive as they would like. There have been other trials that are currently being done to help give more answers.