Immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) could double the chance of survival for children who experience out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, a study released on Thursday last week showed.
The study by Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital also showed that CPR for children having cardiac arrests could prevent brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen.
A team at the hospital studied 152 patients younger than 18 from 2005 to 2016 who experienced out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and were later admitted to the hospital, pediatric general medicine director Lee Jung (李嶸) told a news conference.
The study showed that 15 patients received CPR prior to being admitted to the hospital, and of that group, there was a 60 percent chance to restart the heart at the hospital, he said.
For the other cases in which patients received no CPR prior to being admitted, there was a 32 percent chance of restarting the heart, he added.
Many parents rush their child to the hospital without first trying CPR, because they do not understand its importance or they lack the confidence to perform it, but the immediate use of CPR doubles the chance of survival, Lee said.
The study included an equal number of male and female patients, and 47 percent were younger than one.
Out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in children occur on average 1.5 times every month, among which 54 percent are due to choking and up to 76 percent occur at home, it showed.
The study found that only one-third of the patients regain heartbeats after reaching the hospital, 14 percent survive and 5 percent function normally afterward.
Complications resulting from a lack of oxygen to the brain could increase the risks of hindered brain development and even cerebral palsy, hospital attending physician Wu Chang-teng (吳昌騰) said.
Permanent damage could occur if the brain is deprived of oxygen for more than six minutes, and CPR using external force to supply the brain with more blood and oxygen could prevent the situation from happening, he said.
Key points to focus on when performing CPR include quick and hard compressions, the rebound of the chest and continuity of the compressions, Wu said.
Compressions should be administered at a rate of at least 100 per minute, and at a depth of about one-third of the chest capacity each time, he said, adding that the rising of the chest signals the timing for the next compression, and the break period between compressions should not exceed 10 seconds.
Deliver two breaths to the patient’s mouth after each set of 30 compressions, and if the heart does not restart, repeat the cycle until it is beating or an ambulance arrives, he said.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS