Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 21, 2026
Measuring Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) Activity in Children
Published on: April 29, 2013
Is arrhythmia detection by automatic external defibrillator accurate for children?: sensitivity and specificity of an
F Cecchin1, D B Jorgenson, C I Berul
1University of Washington, Seattle, USA. fcecch@chmc.org
Background:
Use of automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) in children aged <8 years is not recommended. The purpose of this study was to develop an ECG database of shockable and nonshockable rhythms from a broad age range of pediatric patients and to test the accuracy of the Agilent Heartstream FR2 Patient Analysis System for sensitivity and specificity.
Methods And Results:
Children aged
Conclusions:
There was excellent AED rhythm analysis sensitivity and specificity in all age groups for ventricular fibrillation and nonshockable rhythms. The high specificity and sensitivity indicate that there is a very low risk of an inappropriate shock and that the AED correctly identifies shockable rhythms, making the algorithm both safe and effective for children.
