Implementation of the Smartphone-Based First-Aiders Alerting System "Mobile Rescuers"
Ralf Stroop · 2017
Pre-hospital resuscitation of children in the City of Prague between 2003 and 2015IntroductionWhile there is a lot of studies dealing with out out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in adults, data about OHCA in children age (CH-OHCA) are rarely published. The aim of this study is to describe epidemiology and results of CH-OHCA in City of Prague (1,2 million of inhabitants). MethodologyRetrospective analysis of epidemiology and survival rates of CH-OHCA during 13 years period from 2003 to 2015. The data are taken from Prague OHCA Utstein-style database. Children age was defined as age from 0 to 17,99 years.ResultsIn the study period, there were 6 626 OHCAs attended by Prague EMS, of which 121 met the criteria of CH-OHCA (1.8%, 0.78 CH-OHCA per 100.000 inhabitants and year). The majority of CH-OHCA occurred in age groups 0 u2013 0.99 (35; 28.9%; p<0.05) and 1 - 1.99 (26; 21.5% p<0,05). In no other age group the number of CH-OHCA exceeded 9 (n/s).No CH-OHCA was witnessed by ambulance personnel. Layperson CPR was performed in 95 cases (78,5%). Full BLS was delivered in 36 cases (37,9%), while in 59 cases (62,1%) compressions-only CPR was provided. The first captured rhythm was most often asystole (96; 79.4%). Ventricular fibrillation (VF-first subgroup) as the first rhythm was present in 12 patients (10.0%), half of whom were 15+. The most common cause of CH-OHCA was recorded as unknown (39%). The overall survival rate from CH-OHCA (with CPC 1-2) was 10.7%, in VF-first subgroup it was 41.7%. ConclusionCH-OHCA is relatively rare event. The most vulnerable group is children under 2 years of age. Small children are most frequently found in asystole, while VF occurs more frequently in age over 15. Even though CH-OHCA is uncommon in pre-hospital setting, everyone in the emergency service must be adequately trained for it.