Pediatric Vital Signs Calculator

Provides a list of values for vital signs that are normal given the age of the patient.

In the text below the tool there is more information on the vital signs considered for pediatric patients.


The pediatric vital signs calculator provides a quick list of the normal values of the most common vital signs (heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure and temperature) based on the pediatric patient age.

The patient populations that this tool serves are:

■ Neonate (<1 kg);

■ Neonate (3 kg);

■ Infant (1 – 12 months);

■ 1 – 2 years;

■ 3 – 5 years;

■ 6 – 9 years;

■ 10 – 11 years;

■ 12 – 15 years.


It is important to monitor vital signs in pediatric patients and unlike for adults, these values vary widely with age. The values provided by this calculator are according to the PALS 2015 guidelines.

Beside heart and respiration rate, systolic and diastolic pressure and temperature, in some health settings, pulse oximetry (SPO2) is also monitored although is does not class as a vital sign.


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Steps on how to print your input & results:

1. Fill in the calculator/tool with your values and/or your answer choices and press Calculate.

2. Then you can click on the Print button to open a PDF in a separate window with the inputs and results. You can further save the PDF or print it.

Please note that once you have closed the PDF you need to click on the Calculate button before you try opening it again, otherwise the input and/or results may not appear in the pdf.


 

Vital signs provided

The input age allows the calculator to retrieve the normal range pediatric vital signs for neonate to 15 year old patients.

The tool delivers the following functional parameters:

Vital sign Description
Heart rate (Awake and Asleep) Offers information on heart contraction and blood circulation.
Respiratory rate Basic information on respiration and degree of ventilation. The number of breaths is to be counted for at least 60s.
Blood pressure (Systolic and Diastolic) Measured via sphygmomanometer and stethoscope. It was found that high pressure carries a higher risk in pediatric than in adult patients.
Temperature Helps diagnose or rule out fever. It also establishes a baseline for individual variation.
Temperature does not differ with age but with measurement method:
- Oral & Axillary: 36.5 - 37.5°C
- Rectal: 36.6 - 38°C;
- Ear: 35.8 - 38°C;

The Pediatric Early Warning Score (PEWS) is an example of an emergency room scoring tool that includes vital signs in the assessment.

 

Normal values

The table below introduces the normal range vital signs in pediatric patients of different ages, according to the PALS 2015 guidelines.

Age Heart rate (awake) bpm Heart rate (asleep) bpm Respiratory rate bpm Systolic BP mmHg Diastolic BP mmHg
Neonate (<1kg) 100 - 205 90 - 160 30 - 53 39 - 59 16 - 36
Neonate (3 kg) 100 - 205 90 - 160 30 - 53 60 - 84 31 - 53
Infant (1 - 12 months) 100 - 190 90 - 160 30 - 53 72 - 104 37 - 56
1 - 2 years 98 - 140 80 - 120 22 - 37 86 - 106 42 - 63
3 - 5 years 80 - 120 65 - 100 20 - 28 89 - 112 46 - 72
6 - 9 years 75 - 118 58 - 90 18 - 25 97 - 115 57 - 76
10 - 11 years 75 - 118 58 - 90 18 - 25 102 - 120 61 - 80
12 - 15 years 60 - 100 50 - 90 12 - 20 110 - 131 64 - 83
 

References

1. Fleming S, Thompson M, Stevens R, Heneghan C, Plüddemann A, Maconochie I, Tarassenko L, Mant D. (2011) Normal ranges of heart rate and respiratory rate in children from birth to 18 years of age: a systematic review of observational studies. Lancet. 2011; 377(9770):1011-8.

2. Hewes H, Hunsaker S, Christensen M, Whitney J, Dalrymple T, Taillac P. (2016) Documentation of pediatric vital signs by EMS providers over time. J Pediatr Surg. 2016; 51(2):329-32.

3. Gausche M, Henderson DP, Seidel JS. (1990) Vital signs as part of the prehospital assessment of the pediatric patient: a survey of paramedics. Ann Emerg Med. 1990; 19(2):173-8.


Specialty: Pediatrics

Objective: Evaluation

Type: Calculator

No. Of Variables: 1

Article By: Denise Nedea

Published On: May 26, 2017 · 01:56 AM

Last Checked: May 26, 2017

Next Review: May 26, 2023