Defibrillator Use Urged to Save Children's Lives

American Academy of Pediatrics says heart problems in kids have been underestimated

By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter

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MONDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) -- The emergency defibrillators now commonly found in airports and other public places that have saved thousands of adult cardiac arrest victims can also save the lives of children.

That's the new position of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which is reminding its members -- and other physicians as well -- that the devices can safely be used on children younger than 8 years old.

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"As AED [automated external defibrillator] programs expand, pediatricians must advocate on behalf of children so that their needs are accounted for," said an AAP policy statement in the November issue of Pediatrics. The statement was released Monday during the American Academy of Pediatrics annual meeting in San Francisco.

Recent studies have shown that children do experience ventricular fibrillation, a potentially fatal condition in which the heart fails to contract properly. And, while the use of defibrillators to save a child's life by providing an electrical jolt has been advocated for several years, the "software on AEDs has become more extensive and validated for children, and attenuation devices have become available to downregulate the energy delivered by AEDs to allow their use on children," the statement said.

Dr. Steven E. Krug, chairman of the academy's committee on pediatric emergency medicine and a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said, the "overall incidence of ventricular fibrillation has been underestimated. It used to be thought that it was fairly uncommon in children. We now know that a fairly significant number of children have arrhythmias that need defibrillation."

The academy said the new report was being issued, because "there is a need for developing strategies to provide defibrillation to children younger than 8 years."

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