Characteristics of paediatric cardiac arrests in the PICU in 2017 and 2018
| 2017 | 2018 | Total | |
| Total PICU Admissions, n | 1035 | 1018 | 2053 |
| Mortality Index (observed/expected) | 1.41 | 1.16 | |
| Case Mix Index | 2.71 | 2.53 | |
| Total no of cardiac arrest, n | 22 | 23 | 45 |
| Total no of patients requiring CPR, n (%) | 17 (1.6) | 21 (2) | 38 (2) |
| Age category, n (%) | |||
| <1 year | 10 (59) | 9 (43) | 19 (50) |
| 1–8years | 3 (18) | 7 (33) | 10 (26) |
| 8–18 years | 4 (23) | 4 (19) | 8 (21) |
| >18 years | 0 | 1 (5) | 1 (3) |
| Biological sex of patients requiring CPR, n (%) | |||
| Male | 9 (53) | 13 (62) | 40 (58) |
| Race of patients requiring CPR, n (%) | |||
| African American | 7 (41) | 9 (43) | 16 (42) |
| Caucasian | 7 (41) | 6 (29) | 13 (34) |
| Asian American | 1 (6) | 2 (9) | 3 (8) |
| Hispanic | 2 (12) | 4(19) | 6 (16) |
| Source of Admission of patients requiring CPR, n (%) | |||
| Emergency room | 4 (24) | 8 (38) | 12 (32) |
| General paediatric floor | 5 (29) | 8 (38) | 13 (34) |
| Outside hospital | 6 (35) | 5 (24) | 11 (29) |
| Operating room | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) | 2 (12) | 0 | 2 (5) |
| Type of arrest, n (%) | |||
| Pulseless electrical activity | 8 (36) | 12 (52) | 20 (44) |
| Bradycardia | 10 (43) | ||
| Asystole | 0 | ||
| Ventricular fibrillation/ventricular tachycardia | 1 (4) | ||
| Unknown | 14 (63) | 0 | |
| Time of arrest, n (%) | |||
| Night/weekend (1900–0700) | 9 (41) | 10 (43) | 19 (42) |
| Cause of cardiac arrest, n (%) | |||
| Respiratory | 11 (50) | 14 (61) | 25 (56) |
| Sepsis | 2 (9) | 4 (17) | 6 (13) |
| Cardiovascular | 1 (5) | 3 (14) | 4 (9) |
| Trauma | 2 (9) | 0 | 2 (4) |
| Neurologic | 5 (22) | 2 (8) | 7 (16) |
| ECMO circuit arrest | 1 (5) | 0 | 1 (2) |
| Cardiac arrest events requiring ECPR, n (%) | 2 (9) | 0 | 2 (4) |
| PICU codes per 1000 patient days | 4.7 | 4.5 | |
| Average days between cardiac arrest | 15.4 | 17 | 16.5 |
| No of arrests with complete reviews that met AHA guidelines, n (%) | 1 (17) | 13 (76) | 14 (31) |
| No of arrests with complete reviews, n (%) | 6 (27) | 17 (74) | 23 (51) |
| Percent of reviewed cardiac arrest patient’s survival to discharge | 47 | 63 | 62 |
| Percent ROSC | 77 | 78 | 73 |
| Median time to ROSC | 5 min | 3 min | 4 min |
Patient race, gender and source of admission is expressed as a percentage of the total number of patients who required CPR to give a broader view of our PICU population.
AHA, American Heart Association; CPR, cardiopulmonary resuscitation ; ECMO, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation; PICU, paediatric intensive care unit; ROSC, return of spontaneous circulation.