Objective: To compare the proportion of correct placements (POCP) between 'two-fingers' and 'two-thumbs' techniques of chest compression among neonates of various gestations.
Study design: Two-fingers and two-thumbs spans of 32 adult rescuers were individually compared with the inter-nipple line to sterno-xiphoid junction distance of 39 neonates. 'Correct placement' was defined if two-fingers/two-thumbs span was equal to or less than the inter-nipple line to sterno-xiphoid junction distance. The POCPs was compared between two-fingers and two-thumbs methods of chest compression by the McNemar test among neonates and their various subgroups.
Result: There were a total of 1248 comparisons. The POCPs with two-fingers and two-thumbs techniques were 6.7 and 77% in all neonates, 10.6 and 89.5% in full term and 1.2 and 59% in preterm neonates, respectively (P<0.001).
Conclusion: Two-thumbs technique achieved higher POCPs and should be preferred over two-fingers technique among neonates.