[New recommendations for uniform reporting of advanced life support]

Pediatric patients requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation show high morbidity and mortality. There are few studies on this topic and existing studies use distinct terminology and methodology in data collection, hampering comparisons, efficiency assessment, and meta-analyses, etc. Consequently, in clinical studies of cardiorespiratory arrest (CRA) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the pediatric age group, data collection should be performed in a uniform manner. To define the criteria that allow uniform data collection, in 2004 a working group of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation published simplified recommendations for registering essential information, which could be applicable to adults and children both in clinical practice and research, as well as inside and outside the hospital setting. Following the Utstein style, the Spanish Group of Pediatric and Neonatal CPR has designed an algorithm and a data collection form for recording essential CPA data. The need for these documents to be designed with maximum accuracy is stressed, both because of their medico-legal and professional implications and because of the influence of some variables on post-CPA recovery. Likewise, while protecting patient confidentiality, provincial, regional and national CPA registries should be developed, which would improve the quality of care, research, and resource provision according to needs.