A Prospective, Population-Based Study of the Epidemiology and Outcome of Out-of-Hospital Pediatric Cardiopulmonary Arrest

Abstract
Background. This study reports the epidemiologic features, survival rates, and neurologic outcomes of the largest population-based series of pediatric out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest patients with prospectively collected data.Methods. Secondary analysis of data from a prospective, interventional trial of out-of-hospital pediatric airway management conducted from 1994 to 1997 (Gausche M, Lewis RJ, Stratton SJ, et al. JAMA. 2000;283:783-790). Consecutive out-of-hospital patients from 2 large urban counties in California 31 minutes in the emergency department.Conclusions. The 8.6% survival rate after out-of-hospital pediatric cardiopulmonary arrest is poor. Administration of >3 doses of epinephrine or prolonged resuscitation is futile.