Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2003 Aug;89(8):839-42.
doi: 10.1136/heart.89.8.839.

Presentation, management, and outcome of out of hospital cardiopulmonary arrest: comparison by underlying aetiology

J P Pell  1 , J M Sirel, A K Marsden, I Ford, N L Walker, S M Cobbe
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Presentation, management, and outcome of out of hospital cardiopulmonary arrest: comparison by underlying aetiology

J P Pell et al. Heart. 2003 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: To describe and compare presentation, management, and survival by aetiology of cardiopulmonary arrest.

Design, setting, and patients: A retrospective cohort study was undertaken of all 21 175 first out of hospital cardiopulmonary arrests in Scotland between May 1991 and March 1998.

Main outcome measure: Discharge alive from hospital.

Results: Presumed cardiac disease accounted for 17 451 cases (82%), other internal aetiologies for 1814 (9%), and external aetiologies for 1910 (9%). Arrests caused by presumed cardiac disease had a better risk profile in terms of presence of a witness, bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation, call-response interval, and use of defibrillation; 1265 (7%) of those who arrested from presumed cardiac disease were discharged alive, compared with only 77 (2%) of those with non-cardiac disorders (p < 0.001). Among those defibrillated, call-response interval was associated with survival following arrests from both presumed cardiac and non-cardiac causes (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: Out of hospital cardiopulmonary arrests from non-cardiac causes were associated with worse crude survival than arrests from cardiac causes. Improvements in call-response interval and basic life support skills in the community would improve survival irrespective of the aetiology and should therefore be encouraged.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Eisenberg MS, Cummins RO, Larsen MP. Numerators, denominators and survival rates: reporting survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Am J Emerg Med 1991;9:544–6. - PubMed
    1. Kuilman M, Bleeker JK, Hartman JA, et al. Long-term survival out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: an 8-year follow-up. Resuscitation 1999;41:25–31. - PubMed
    1. Kuisma M, Alaspää A. Out of hospital cardiac arrest of non-cardiac origin. Epidemiology and outcome. Eur Heart J 1997;18:1122–8. - PubMed
    1. McLoone P, Boddy FA. Deprivation and mortality in Scotland, 1981 and 1991. BMJ 1994;309:1465–70. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cummins RO, Chamberlain DA, Abramson NS, et al. Recommended guidelines for uniform reporting of data from out of hospital cardiac arrest: the Utstein Style. Circulation 1991;84:960–75. - PubMed

Publication types