Characteristics and outcome among patients suffering from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: Factors associated with survival

Abstract

The aim was to define factors associated with an improved outcome among patients suffering out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) using the Utstain style data collection. We examined 200 patients suffering from OHCA in a prospective study in a two years period. We determined survival from cardiac arrest (CA) to discharge from hospital and the factors associated with survival. 78% of CA patients had a cardiac aetiology, 65% occurred at home, 3.7% received bystander CPR. 36% were found in VF/VT, 64% in asystole/PEA. 52% of patients were intubated in the field, survival to discharge from hospital was significantly higher among patients who were intubated in the field. The mean response time was 6.6 minutes. 66.7% of patients were given the shock after 4 minutes. 131 (65.5%) were pronounced dead in the field, 69 patients were transported to the hospital. 53 (76.8%) patients of them died during the transport or in the ED, 7 died after hospital admission and 9 survived to hospital discharge. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that variables significantly associated with survival to hospital discharge were: age, endotracheal intubation in the field and mean response time. The outcome of CPR was better in patients who were younger, who were intubated in the field and when the response time was shorter.

Keywords

• emergency medical service
• out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
• cardiopulmonary resuscitation