Special contribution

Recommended guidelines for uniform reporting of data from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: The utstein style

The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) Research and Registries Working Group previously reported data on systems of care and outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in 2015 from 16 national and regional registries. To describe the temporal trends with updated data on OHCA, we report the characteristics of OHCA from 2015 through 2017.

We invited national and regional population-based OHCA registries for voluntary participation and included emergency medical services (EMS)-treated OHCA. We collected descriptive summary data of core elements of the latest Utstein style recommendation during 2016 and 2017 at each registry. For registries that participated in the previous 2015 report, we also extracted the 2015 data.

Eleven national registries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania, and 4 regional registries in Europe were included in this report. Across registries, the estimated annual incidence of EMS-treated OHCA was 30.0–97.1 individuals per 100,000 population in 2015, 36.4–97.3 in 2016, and 40.8–100.2 in 2017. The provision of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) varied from 37.2% to 79.0% in 2015, from 2.9% to 78.4% in 2016, and from 4.1% to 80.3% in 2017. Survival to hospital discharge or 30-day survival for EMS-treated OHCA ranged from 5.2% to 15.7% in 2015, from 6.2% to 15.8% in 2016, and from 4.6% to 16.4% in 2017.

We observed an upward temporal trend in provision of bystander CPR in most registries. Although some registries showed favourable temporal trends in survival, less than half of registries in our study demonstrated such a trend.

The aim of this study was to compare out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) outcomes before and after implementation of Smart Advanced Life Support (SALS) protocol incorporating changes in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) assistance and coaching by physicians via real-time video calls.

A prospective before-and-after multi-regional observational study was conducted between January 2014 and December 2018. In January 2016, emergency medical service (EMS) providers adopted an integrated CPR coaching by physicians via real-time video call via SALS to treat patients with OHCA focusing on high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Propensity score matching was performed to match patients. Patients' outcomes using conventional protocol were then compared with those of patients using the SALS protocol.

Among 26,349 OHCA cases, 2351 patients and 7261 patients were enrolled during the pre-intervention and the post-intervention periods, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that SALS was independently associated with favorable neurological outcomes [odds ratio (OR): 2.20; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.62–2.99]. A total of 2096 patients were propensity score-matched and the two groups were well balanced. In the matched cohort, the use of SALS protocol was still associated with increased prehospital return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) (OR: 3.83, 95% CI: 2.80–5.26), survival to discharge (OR: 1.68; 95% CI: 1.20–2.34), and favorable neurological outcomes (OR: 1.83; 95% CI: 1.19–2.82).

A multidisciplinary SALS protocol for the resuscitation of patients with OHCA was associated with increased prehospital ROSC, survival to discharge, and good neurologic outcomes compared with traditional resuscitation protocol.

Utstein Abbey near Stavanger in Norway, hosted a meeting in 1990 on guidelines for the uniform reporting of data from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. In this paper we describe the last 30 years of the Utstein style.

A systematic literature search identified publications from Utstein-style meetings or groups using the Utstein format.

30 outputs were found, describing primarily resuscitation structure, process and outcome measures. They originated from all over the world and from multiple medical disciplines. Some were co-published in multiple journals.

The meeting at Utstein Abbey in 1990 has had a sustained and far-reaching impact, particularly in resuscitation science, implementation and outcomes. The Utstein format will continue to evolve following the key principles from the original meeting and with the ultimate aim of improving patient care and outcomes.

The general cardiovascular health has improved throughout the last few decades for middle-aged and older individuals, but the incidence of several cardiovascular diseases is reported to increase in younger people. We aimed to assess the age-specific incidence and mortality rates associated with out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrest (OHCA) between 2002 and 2014.

We used the Danish Cardiac Arrest Register to identify patients with OHCA of presumed cardiac etiology. We calculated the annual incidence rates (IR) and 30-day mortality rates (MR) in 7 age groups (18–34 years, 35–44 years, 45–54 years, 55–64 years, 65–74 years, 75–84 years and ≥85 years, and ≤50 vs. >50 years).

Between 2002 and 2014, IR of OHCA decreased in individuals aged 65–74 and 75–84 years (158.08 to 111.2 and 237.5 to 217.09 per 100,000 person-years) and increased in the oldest from 201.01 to 325.4 pr. 100.000 person-years. In 18–34-years incidence of OHCA increased from 1.7 to 2.6 per 100.000 person-years. When stratifying into age ≤50 vs. >50 years, the IR deviated in those >50 years (from 117.8 in 2002 to 91 in 2008 to 117.4 in 2014100,000 person-years). The prevalence of acute myocardial infarction and heart failure prior to OHCA increased in the younger patient group in contrast to the older segment (AMI: ≤50 years: 10% to 16%, vs. >50 years: 25% to 23%, heart failure: ≤50 years 6% to 14%, vs. >50 years: 21% to 24%).

Over the last decades, incidence rates of OHCA decreased in individuals aged 65–84, but increased in individuals older than 85. An increase was also observed in younger individuals, potentially indicating a need for better cardiovascular disease prevention in younger adults.

We aimed to assess the effects of Shenfu injection (SFI) in combination with epinephrine during cardiac arrest on survival and neurological outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).

In this randomised, assessor-blind controlled trial, Utstein-style data were collected from 1233 OHCA patients treated at the Beijing Emergency Medical Center between January 2013 and June 2016. The patients were randomised into either a treatment group that received a combination of SFI and standard treatment with epinephrine or a control group that received standard treatment with epinephrine alone. The primary outcome was survival to hospital admission. The secondary outcomes were return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), survival to hospital discharge, favourable neurological outcome at discharge, survival to one year, and favourable neurological outcome at one-year survival.

In both groups, the survival to hospital admission, ROSC, survival to hospital discharge, and one-year survival rate after discharge from the hospital did not differ significantly. However, SFI achieved favourable neurological outcome at discharge in comparison with the standard treatment with an odds ratio (OR) of 2.72 at a 95% confidence interval (CI; 1.00–8.53). Meanwhile, unlike with epinephrine alone, the combination of SFI and epinephrine achieved a better cerebral performance category (CPC) score (1–2) after one-year survival (OR: 5.08, 95% CI: 1.07–47.80).

The combination of SFI and epinephrine had favourable neurological outcomes after OHCA compared with those with epinephrine alone, whereas the survival to admission was not significantly altered.

In this study, we sought to quantitatively describe the survival outcomes, incidence rates, and predictors of survival after paediatric traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).

We systematically searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, EMCARE, and CINAHL to identify observational or interventional studies reporting relevant data for paediatric traumatic OHCA. The Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tool for prognostic studies was used to assess study quality. We analysed the survival outcomes and pooled incidence rates per 100,000 person-years using random-effect models.

Nineteen articles met the eligibility criteria involving 705 Emergency Medical Service (EMS)-attended and 973 EMS-treated traumatic paediatric OHCAs across an estimated serviceable population of 15.2 million. Four studies were conducted in the Asia-pacific region, seven in Europe, and eight in North America. Nine studies were assessed as low quality. Overall pooled survival to hospital discharge or 30-day survival for the EMS-treated cases was 1.2% (n = 6 studies; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.1%, 3.1%; I² = 26.1%). The pooled rate of return of spontaneous circulation in four studies was 22.1% (95% CI: 18.4%, 26.1%; I² = 0.0%), and the pooled rate of event survival was 18.8% (n = 3 studies; 95% CI: 15.2%, 22.7%; I² = 0.0%). The pooled incidence of EMS-treated paediatric traumatic OHCA was 1.6 cases per 100,000 person-years (n = 10 studies; 95% CI: 1.1, 2.2; I² = 98.1%). No study reported on the impact of epidemiological or clinical factors on survival.

Survival outcomes of paediatric traumatic OHCA are poor and existing studies report varying incidence rates. The absence of large prospective and international registry data hinders the development of novel strategies to improve survival rates.