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Infant carry slings rarely linked to OHCA
Infant carry sling-associated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and other circumstances surrounding such events in children under two years: A five-year regional registry analysis
Resuscitation Plus · 2026-10 · Added 23 October 2026
A five-year English regional registry review of 162 cardiac arrests in children under two found only two linked to infant carry slings, while co-sleeping featured in a third of cases.
- Study type
- Registry
- Design
- Retrospective registry service evaluation
- Participants
- 162 children under two who received a resuscitation attempt
- Main finding
- Only 2 of 162 OHCA were carry sling-associated (1.8% of the 114 infant cases); co-sleeping accounted for 33.3% and children found unresponsive 26.3%
- Caveat
- Small single-region sample relying on free-text narrative review — two events over five years can't exclude a rare risk
- Bottom line
- Hypothesis-generating
Why it matters in Australia (High relevance). Sleep-related infant arrests — co-sleeping, found unresponsive in a cot, bed, sofa or pushchair — are the same scenes Australian crews attend, and nothing about a single-region English ambulance registry makes the numbers system-specific.
Learning goal
Recognise how carry slings and co-sleeping environments contribute to sudden deterioration in infants under two.
More
- Topic: Paediatrics
- Daily scan: 23 October 2026
- Podcast: Paramedic Papers Daily, 23 October 2026
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