Researchers who reviewed 69 studies that included a total of about 143,000 children said that the Guidelines for children’s heart and breathing rate reference ranges need to be updated.

The reference ranges are used for assessing and resuscitating children, the review of which produced new reference ranges that differ widely from existing published guidelines, according to Dr Matthew Thompson, of Oxford University in the United Kingdom and colleagues.

The new reference ranges

• Show decline in respiratory rate from birth to early adolescence, with the steepest decrease in infants under 2 years of age, falling from a median of 44 breaths per minute at birth to 26 breaths per minute at 2 years of age.

• The researchers also found that median heart rate increases from 127 beats per minute at birth to a maximum of 145 beats per minute at about 1 month, and then decreases to 113 beats per minute at 2 years of age.
• In many cases, the rates in the review are completely different from the existing published ranges. For example, the existing reference range classifies about half of healthy 10-year-olds as having an abnormal heart or respiratory rate, the researchers said.

The review findings are published in the March 15 online edition of The Lancet.
It was also surprising to know that the study does not include differences between sexes; also alarming is that factors such as pain or distress can raise heart rate.

Reference: http://www.prescriptiondrug-info.com/news/article.asp?Title=Updates+Urged+for+Kids%27+Heart%2C+Breathing+Rate+Guidelines&Page=33194