In-hospital pediatric cardiac arrest in Honduras

Martha Matamoros1, Roger Rodriguez, Allison Callejas

  • 1From the *Hospital Escuela, Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and †Pediatric Intensive Care Department, Instituto de Investigación del Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain.

Pediatric Emergency Care
|December 20, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Pediatric in-hospital cardiac arrest (CA) in Honduras shows low survival rates. Nonrespiratory causes, adrenaline use, and prolonged resuscitation significantly worsen prognosis for children experiencing CA.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Emergency Medicine
  • Critical Care
  • Global Health

Background:

  • In-hospital pediatric cardiac arrest (CA) presents unique challenges, particularly in resource-limited settings.
  • Understanding prognostic factors is crucial for improving outcomes in pediatric critical care.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze the characteristics and prognostic factors of in-hospital pediatric cardiac arrest (CA).
  • To identify factors influencing survival to hospital discharge in pediatric CA patients in Honduras.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective observational study involving 146 pediatric patients with in-hospital CA.
  • Data collected as part of a multicenter international study.
  • Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses used to determine mortality predictors.

Main Results:

  • Cardiac arrest most frequently occurred in the emergency department (66.9%).
  • Respiratory diseases and sepsis were the leading causes of CA.
  • Survival to hospital discharge was 22.6%; factors associated with mortality included nonrespiratory CA cause, adrenaline administration, and CPR duration exceeding 10 minutes.

Conclusions:

  • In-hospital pediatric CA in developing countries is associated with low survival rates.
  • Nonrespiratory causes, need for adrenaline, and prolonged resuscitation indicate a worse prognosis for pediatric CA patients.
Abstract

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