New CPR guidelines encourage rescue breaths for children and infants – CTV
October 22, 2025
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada has released new CPR guidelines.
The five-year update to the Canadian Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) was published Wednesday. It includes a renewed emphasis on lay responders providing life-saving rescue breaths when performing CPR on children and infants.
“Children are not just small adults – their physiology and causes of cardiac arrest differ significantly,” McGill University pediatrics professor and guideline contributor Dr. Farhan Bhanji said in a news release. “Unlike adults, paediatric cardiac arrests often stem from respiratory issues, making oxygen delivery through breaths essential to improving outcomes.”
According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, approximately 60,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of hospitals every year in Canada, which is about one every nine minutes. While the survival rate is less than one in 10 in most communities, performing CPR and using a defibrillator can double the chance of a patient living.
