Age related reference ranges for respiration rate and heart rate from 4 to 16 years

Lee Wallis ^1*, Michael J Healy ², Barry Undy ³ and Ian Maconochie ⁴

¹ Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, South Africa
² London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom
³ University of Plymouth, United Kingdom
⁴ St Mary's Hospital, United Kingdom

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: leewallis{at}bvr.co.za.

Accepted 30 June 2005

Abstract

Background:Clinical vital signs in children (temperature, heart rate, respiration rate and blood pressure) are an integral part of our clinical assessment of degree of illness or normality. Despite this, only blood pressure and temperature have a reliable evidence base. The accepted ranges of heart and respiration rate vary widely.

Methods:This study examined 1109 children aged between four and 16 years in their own schools. Age, sex, height, weight and resting respiration rate and heart rate were measured. The data were used to produce age related reference ranges for everyday clinical use.

Results:Data are presented for the range of heart rate and respiration rate of healthy resting children aged four to 16 years.

Conclusion:We have presented reference ranges for heart rate and respiration rate for healthy resting children aged from 4 to 16 years. The recoded values are at variance with standard quoted ranges in currently available texts.

Keywords: heart rate, reference range, respiratory rate

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