The Effect of the Time of In-hospital Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation on the Immediate Outcome in Pediatric Patients

We aimed to identify the factors affecting the in-hospital Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to investigate the effect of the time of in-hospital CPR on its immediate outcome in pediatric patients.

This retrospective study investigated CPR events performed at a teaching hospital in Tehran, Iran, from March 2018 to March 2019. After obtaining the necessary academic and ethical approvals, the pertinent data were transcribed from patient records and analyzed. No identifying data about patients or their families were extracted.  

Chi-square test showed a significant difference in the occurrence of CPR on two-hour time blocks (p=0.041), with dips at 0-2 a.m. and 12-2 p.m. and heights at 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. (representing 5, 6, 17 and 17 CPR events, respectively). The occurrence of CPR during the night shift was significantly less than in the morning and evening shifts (p=0.000 and 0.005 respectively). Of 161 subjects with a known immediate outcome of CPR, 86 (53.4%) survived, and 75 (46.6%) died. The outcome was significantly less favorable in the evening shift compared to the morning shift (p=0.028), but no significant differences in the outcome were found between morning and night shifts (p=0.163), evening and night shifts (p=0.256), day and night (p=0.637) or workdays and weekends (p=0.925).

We found a significantly higher occurrence of CPR at 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m., at the beginning and end of the evening shift and a higher rate of post-CPR death in this shift.