• Posted November 4, 2025

Kids Need CPR More Promptly Than Adults Following Cardiac Arrest

Thousands of U.S. kids each year collapse from cardiac arrest and need CPR to save their lives.

But CPR must start for them in half the time required for adults, according to results that will be presented at the American Heart Association annual meeting in New Orleans on Nov. 9.

The time window to initiate successful CPR might be half that of the window for adults: 5 minutes versus 10 minutes, researchers reported.

Initiating CPR within that 5-minute window can nearly double the chances of survival for a child, researchers found.

“If a child’s heart suddenly stops, every second counts,” lead researcher Dr. Mohammad Abdel Jawad, a research fellow of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said in a news release.

“We found the time window is even more critical in children, so it is imperative to emphasize starting CPR as soon as possible after a cardiac arrest,” Jawad said.

Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart’s electrical system abruptly malfunctions, causing the heart to stop beating, researchers said in background notes.

Each year more than 7,000 out-of-hospital and around 20,000 in-hospital cardiac arrests occur in infants and children in the United States, according to the American Heart Association.

CPR guidelines for children call for cycles of 30 chest compressions at 100 to 120 compressions per minute, followed by two breaths, researchers said.

For the new study, researchers reviewed data for more than 10,000 children who suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Of those children, about half received bystander CPR.

Results showed that odds of survival increased 91% if CPR commenced within one minute of a cardiac arrest, 98% in two to three minutes, and 37% within 4 to 5 minutes.

A child’s odds remained low if CPR started after five minutes, ranging from 24% to 41% depending on the delay, results showed.

“We were not surprised that CPR initiated within five minutes of cardiac arrest improved survival odds in children,” Jawad said. “However, we were struck by how quickly the benefit dropped off after five minutes.”

“In adults, a recent study reported survival benefits even when CPR was started at nine minutes; however, our analysis confirms that in children the time window was much shorter,” Jawad continued. “This highlights just how critical every minute is after pediatric cardiac arrest.”

Overall, more than 15% of the children survived their cardiac arrest, and 13% did so without lasting brain injury, researchers said. The sooner the CPR, the better their odds.

The findings especially emphasize how important it is for as many people as possible to learn CPR, as any bystander might be called upon to provide lifesaving aid, researchers said.

“These findings highlight the urgent need to teach and encourage more people — parents, family members, teachers, coaches and community members — to learn CPR and feel confident using it right away,” Jawad said. “This is especially tricky for children after cardiac arrest because lay rescuers may feel like they may hurt the child by doing CPR.”

“Future research could focus on how to shorten time to CPR even more, such as improved dispatcher instructions or broader implementation of CPR training in schools and during well-child visits to increase the number of lay rescuers available to administer CPR,” Jawad added.

Findings presented at a medical meeting should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The American Red Cross has more on child and baby CPR.

SOURCE: American Heart Association, news release, Nov. 3, 2025