Schoolchildren as life savers: at what age do they become strong enough?

It is not clear when schoolchildren become enough strong to perform good quality chest compressions (CC). Our purpose was to assess CC quality in schoolchildren.

721 children, 10-15 years old (YO) participated in 1 h hands-on training session. Subjects were tested during performing 2 min of continuous CC by means of Laerdal Resusci Anne(®) with Skillreporter(®), without feedback.

Mean compression depth (MCD) increased with age, from 30.7 mm in 10YO to 42.9 mm in 15YO (p<0.05) and was related to height, weight, and BMI. Boys delivered significantly deeper CC than girls in the 10, 13, 14 and 15YO groups (p<0.001). The percentage of children who achieved the MCD goal (50-60 mm), increased with age, from 0.0% at 10 years to 26.5% at 15 years (p<0.001). Mean compression rate (MCR) ranged from 121 min(-1) in 15YO to 134 min(-1) in 12YO. The percentage of children who achieved a CC rate inside the goal (100-120 min(-1)), ranged from 20.3% in 11YO to 31.0% in 15YO. Correct CC fraction was low and ranged from 2% in the 10YO to 22% in the 15YO (p<0.05). Children older than 13YO obtained better results than younger ones for all analyzed variables (p<0.001). Performance decreased with time: 12% of children achieved >50% of correct CC fraction in first minute, while only 5% did it in second minute (p<0.001).

In schoolchildren, age, sex and anthropometry are significant CPR quality factors. Although quality increases with age, their global performance is poor. Thirteen years is the minimum age to be able to achieve a minimum CPR quality similar to the one adult possess. CPR performance in schoolchildren significantly deteriorates within 60 s.