Incidence of peri-operative paediatric cardiac arrest and the influence of a specialised paediatric anaesthesia team: Retrospective cohort study.

Background: Peri-operative critical events are still a major problem in paediatric anaesthesia care. Access to more experienced healthcare teams might reduce the adverse event rate and improve outcomes.

Objective: The current study analysed incidences of peri-operative paediatric cardiac arrest before and after implementation of a specialised paediatric anaesthesia team and training programme.

Design: Retrospective cohort study with before-and-after analysis.

Setting: Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital of Cologne, Germany.

Patients: A total of 36 243 paediatric anaesthetics (0 to 18 years) were administered between 2008 and 2016.

Intervention: Implementation of a specialised paediatric anaesthesia team and training programme occurred in 2014 This included hands-on supervised training in all fields of paediatric anaesthesia, double staffing for critical paediatric cases and a 24/7 emergency team. A logistic regression analysis with risk factors (age, ASA physical status, emergency) was used to evaluate the impact of implementation of the specialised paediatric anaesthesia team.

Main Outcome Measures: Incidences of peri-operative paediatric cardiac arrest and anaesthesia-attributable cardiac arrest before and after the intervention.

Results: Twelve of 25 paediatric cardiac arrests were classified as anaesthesia-attributable. The incidence of overall peri-operative paediatric cardiac arrest was 8.1/10 000 (95% CI 5.2 to 12.7) in the period 2008 to 2013 and decreased to 4.6/10 000 (95% CI 2.1 to 10.2) in 2014 to 2016. Likewise, the incidence of anaesthesia-attributable cardiac arrest was lower after 2013 [1.6/10 000 (95% CI 0.3 to 5.7) vs. 4.3/10 000 (95% CI 2.3 to 7.9)]. Using logistic regression, children anaesthetised after 2013 had nearly a 70% lower probability of anaesthesia-attributable cardiac arrest (odds ratio 0.306, 95% CI 0.067 to 1.397; P = 0.1263). For anaesthesia-attributable cardiac arrest, young age was the most contributory risk factor, whereas in overall paediatric cardiac arrest, ASA physical statuses 3 to 5 played a more important role.

Conclusion: In this study on incidences of peri-operative paediatric cardiac arrest from a European tertiary care university hospital, implementation of a specialised paediatric anaesthesia team and training programme was associated with lower incidences of peri-operative paediatric cardiac arrest and a reduced probability of anaesthesia-attributable cardiac arrest.