An adult who needs cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) typically suffers from a primary cardiac disorder or an arrhythmia that has stopped the heart. A child who needs CPR typically suffers from hypoxia caused by respiratory difficulty or respiratory arrest.

Most pediatric crises requiring CPR are preventable. They include motor vehicle accidents, drowning, burns, smoke inhalation, falls, poisoning, suffocation, and choking (typically from inhaling a balloon, small object, or food, such as a hot dog, rounded candy, nut, or grape).¹ Other causes of cardiopulmonary arrest in children include laryngospasm and edema from upper respiratory infections.

The goal of CPR is the return of spontaneous circulation. However, CPR techniques differ depending on whether the patient is an adult, a child, or an infant.¹

For CPR purposes, the American Heart Association defines a patient by age. An infant is younger than age 1; a child is age 1 to puberty.¹ Survival chances improve the sooner CPR begins and the faster advanced life-support systems are implemented. However speedily you undertake CPR for a child, though, first determine whether the child’s respiratory distress results from a mechanical obstruction or an infection, such as epiglottiditis or croup. These infections require immediate medical attention, not CPR. CPR is appropriate only when the child isn’t breathing or is only gasping.¹

This procedure is specific to CPR performed by health care providers.