Distribution of Pediatric Vital Signs in the Emergency Department: A Nationwide Study

To effectively use vital signs as indicators in children, the magnitude of deviation from expected vital sign distribution should be determined. The purpose of this study is to derive age-specific centile charts for the heart rate and respiratory rate of the children who visited the emergency department. This study used the Korea’s National Emergency Department Information System dataset. Patients aged <16 years visiting the emergency department between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2017 were included. Heart rate and respiratory rate centile charts were derived from the population with normal body temperature (36 to <38 °C). Of 1,901,816 data points retrieved from the database, 1,454,372 sets of heart rates and 1,458,791 sets of respiratory rates were used to derive centile charts. Age-specific centile charts and curves of heart rates and respiratory rates showed a decline in heart rate and respiratory rate from birth to early adolescence. There were substantial discrepancies in the reference ranges of Advanced Paediatric Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support guidelines. Age-based heart rate and respiratory rate centile charts at normal body temperature, derived from children visiting emergency departments, serve as new evidence-based data and can be used in follow-up studies to improve clinical care for children.