PLoS ONE (Jan 2022)

Impact of COVID-19 on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A registry-based cohort-study from the German Resuscitation Registry.

  • Patrick Ristau,
  • Jan Wnent,
  • Jan-Thorsten Gräsner,
  • Matthias Fischer,
  • Andreas Bohn,
  • Berthold Bein,
  • Sigrid Brenner,
  • Stephan Seewald

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274314
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 9
p. e0274314

Abstract

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IntroductionThe global COVID-19 pandemic effects people and the health system. Some international studies reported an increasing number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Comparable studies regarding the impact of COVID-19 on incidence and outcome of OHCA are not yet available for Germany.Materials and methodsThis epidemiological study from the German Resuscitation Registry (GRR) compared a non-pandemic period (01.03.2018-28.02.2019) and a pandemic period (01.03.2020-28.02.2021) regarding the pandemic-related impact on OHCA care.ResultsA total of 18,799 cases were included. The incidence of OHCA (non-pandemic 117.9 vs. pandemic period 128.0/100,000 inhabitants) and of OHCA with resuscitation attempted increased (66.0 vs. 69.1/100,000). OHCA occurred predominantly and more often at home (62.8% vs. 66.5%, pDiscussionSurvival after OHCA significantly decreased while the bystander resuscitation rate remained stable. However, longer EMS arrival times and fewer cases of witnessed OHCA may have contributed to poorer survival. Any change to EMS systems in the care of OHCA should be critically evaluated as it may mean a real loss of life-regardless of the pandemic situation.