Research Highlights:
Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023
DALLAS, Nov. 6, 2023 — Children’s survival and recovery after a cardiac arrest may be impacted by their race, ethnicity and/or the neighborhood where they live, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2023 . The meeting, to be held Nov. 11-13, in Philadelphia, is a premier global exchange of the latest scientific advancements, research and evidence-based clinical practice updates in cardiovascular science.
“We continue to see racial, ethnic and socioeconomic differences in cardiac arrest survival despite the current strategies we have implemented to improve cardiac arrest survival,” said study lead author Cody Gathers, M.D., a pediatric critical care fellow at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.
While relatively rare, more than 7,000 infants and children have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest per year in the United States, according to data from the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) included in the Association’s 2020 Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care . Cardiac arrest in children and teens can occur after a blow to the chest in a football or baseball game. Additional causes of a cardiac arrest in infants and children include respiratory issues, such as pneumonia, aspiration, smoke inhalation or drowning. Additionally, infectious factors like sepsis or meningitis, as well as cardiac factors including arrhythmias and enlarged hearts, may contribute to these events.
Previous research has found racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in the aftermath of adult cardiac arrest, with worse survival outcomes among Black adults and adults of other races or ethnicities in a lower socioeconomic status.
Researchers evaluated data from the CARES registry to evaluate racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in the number of nontraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrests per year and disparities in survival outcomes.
Their analysis of 6,945 cardiac arrests in 41 states found:
“While much more work is needed to determine why we see these disparities, previous studies have shown that Black children receive less CPR after cardiac arrest. CPR is an important determinant in cardiac arrest survival,” Gathers said. “The persistence of these disparities demonstrates a need for increased resources for these programs in higher-risk communities.”
Study details, background and design:
The study’s limitations included that the registry lacked information on the specific causes of cardiac arrests and on the quality of care delivered by emergency responders.
“The results from this observational work are compelling because the measured disparities in recovery are magnitudes different among white and Hispanic children in comparison to Black children,” said Sarah Perman, M.D., M.S.C.E., FAHA, an associate professor in the department of emergency medicine at Yale School of Medicine and chair of the Association’s Resuscitation Science Symposium 2023. “Exploring the drivers of these differences will be necessary to address the disparities in outcomes. Determining the reasons why Black children had cardiac arrest at a greater incidence also warrants more research in order to combat differences and develop services, programs and diagnostics that will work to reduce these measured observations.”
Co-authors, disclosures and funding sources are listed in the manuscript.
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