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Review
. 2023 Dec 13:17:100529.
doi: 10.1016/j.resplu.2023.100529. eCollection 2024 Mar.

Establishing the Korean Out-of-Hospital cardiac arrest registry (KOHCAR)

Jeong Ho Park  1   2   3 , Yeongho Choi  2   3   4 , Young Sun Ro  1   2   3 , Kyoung Jun Song  2   3   5 , Sang Do Shin  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Establishing the Korean Out-of-Hospital cardiac arrest registry (KOHCAR)

Jeong Ho Park et al. Resusc Plus. .

Abstract

Background: The Korean out-of-hospital cardiac arrest registry (KOHCAR) serves as the basis for a chain of survival monitoring and quality improvement programs for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). This study describes the development history and current status of KOHCAR.

Methods/design: The KOHCAR, initiated in 2008, is a population-based OHCA registry that captures all emergency medical service (EMS)-assessed OHCA cases, regardless of etiology. The KOHCAR represents complete nationwide data and aligns with South Korea's comprehensive plan for cardiovascular disease, which has a legal basis. The KOHCAR is a collaboration between the National Fire Agency (NFA) and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The NFA identifies OHCA patients and provides prehospital information after integrating various EMS records, whereas the KDCA collects hospital information and clinical outcomes through a medical record review. Comprehensive Utstein variables, including patient and arrest characteristics, prehospital and hospital management, and survival outcomes, were collected.

Discussion: The KOHCAR has significantly contributed to improving OHCA survival rates in South Korea; however, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenge. To address the post-pandemic survival rate decline, there is a need to enhance data utilization, expand data sources, and tailor communication with diverse stakeholders.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest; Outcome; Quality; Survival.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: ‘There are no conflicts of interest for all authors in this study. This study was supported by the National Fire Agency (NFA) and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).’.

Figures

Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Emergency medical service system and data sources of Korean out-of-hospital cardiac arrest registry. DACPR, dispatcher-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation; EMS, emergency medical service; CPR, cardiopulmonary resuscitation; EMS, emergency medical service; OHCA, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest; NFA, national fire agency; KDCA, Korea disease control and prevention agency.
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients and survival outcomes in recent 10 years (2012–2021).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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