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(Circulation. 2005;112:IV-156 – IV-166.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.

2005 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care

Part 11: Pediatric Basic Life Support

	Introduction

 
For best survival and quality of life, pediatric basic life support (BLS) should be part of a community effort that includes prevention, basic CPR, prompt access to the emergency medical services (EMS) system, and prompt pediatric advanced life support (PALS). These 4 links form the American Heart Association (AHA) pediatric Chain of Survival (Figure 1). The first 3 links constitute pediatric BLS.

View larger version (40K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1. Pediatric Chain of Survival.

Rapid and effective bystander CPR is associated with successful return of spontaneous circulation and neurologically intact survival in children.^1,2 The greatest impact occurs in respiratory arrest,³ in which neurologically intact survival rates of >70% are possible,^4–6 and in ventricular fibrillation (VF), in which survival rates of 30% have been documented.⁷ But only 2% to 10% of all children who develop out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survive, and most are neurologically devastated.^7–13 Part of the disparity is that bystander CPR is provided for less than half of the victims of out-of-hospital arrest.^8,11,14 Some studies show that survival and neurologic outcome can be improved with prompt CPR.^6,15–17

	Prevention of Cardiopulmonary Arrest

 
The major causes of death in infants and children are respiratory failure, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), sepsis, neurologic diseases, and injuries.¹⁸

Injuries
Injuries, the leading cause of death in children and young adults, cause more childhood deaths than all other causes combined.¹⁸ Many injuries are preventable. The most common fatal childhood injuries amenable to prevention are motor vehicle passenger injuries, pedestrian injuries, bicycle injuries, drowning, burns, and firearm injuries.¹⁹

Motor Vehicle Injuries
Motor vehicle–related injuries account for nearly half of . . . [Full Text of this Article]