Correlation between Physical Features of Elementary School Children and Chest Compression Depth

Introduction The height and body weight of 6th grade elementary school children may have influence on chest compression. Materials & methods In accordance with the 2005 American Heart Association guidelines and 2006 Korean Association of CardioPulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) guidelines, a 25-minute audiovisual presentation and practical demonstration of CPR were presented by the researchers and assistants. The assistants supervised and corrected the practical performance of the students who performed 5 cycles of CPR (2 minutes each) with the aid of the Laerdal Resusci® Anne SkillReporter™. The students then carried out another 5 cycles of CPR (2 minutes each) using the skill reporter; and a short report was printed. Results The correlation coefficient between body weight and chest compression was 0.467 (p=0.000), and the correlation coefficient between height and chest compression was 0.309 (p=0.009). The intercept between body weight and chest compression was 21.763 (p=0.000), and the slope was 0.324 (p=0.000). Student height showed no linear correlation with chest compression depth. Conclusions The body weight of 6th grade elementary school children showed moderate correlation with chest compression depth. A minimal body weight of 50 kg is required to attain a standard chest compression depth of 38 mm. With improved training, some students with body weight less than 50 kg may also achieve satisfactory performance of CPR.