RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Abnormal breathing of sudden cardiac arrest victims described by laypersons and its association with emergency medical service dispatcher-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation instruction JF Emergency Medicine Journal JO Emerg Med J FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and the British Association for Accident & Emergency Medicine SP 314 OP 317 DO 10.1136/emermed-2013-203112 VO 32 IS 4 A1 Hidetada Fukushima A1 Masami Imanishi A1 Taku Iwami A1 Tadahiko Seki A1 Yasuyuki Kawai A1 Kazunobu Norimoto A1 Yasuyuki Urisono A1 Michiaki Hata A1 Kenji Nishio A1 Keigo Saeki A1 Norio Kurumatani A1 Kazuo Okuchi YR 2015 UL http://emj.bmj.com/content/32/4/314.abstract AB Background Current guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) emphasise that emergency medical service (EMS) dispatchers should identify sudden cardiac arrest (CA) with abnormal breathing and assist lay rescuers performing CPR. However, lay rescuers description of abnormal breathing may be inconsistent, and it is unclear how EMS dispatchers provide instruction for CPR based on the breathing status of the CA victims described by laypersons. Methods and results To investigate the incidence of abnormal breathing and the association between the EMS dispatcher-assisted CPR instruction and layperson CPR, we retrospectively analysed 283 witnessed CA cases whose information regarding breathing status of CA victims was available from population-based prospective cohort data. In 169 cases (59.7%), laypersons described that the CA victims were breathing in various ways, and that the victims were ‘not breathing’ in 114 cases (40.3%). Victims described as breathing in various ways were provided EMS dispatch-instruction for CPR less frequently than victims described as ‘not breathing’ (27.8% (47/169) vs 84.2% (96/114); p<0.001). Multivariate logistic regression showed that EMS dispatch-instruction for CPR was associated significantly with layperson CPR (adjusted OR, 11.0; 95% CI, 5.72 to 21.2). Conclusions This population-based study indicates that 60% of CA victims showed agonal respiration, which was described as breathing in various ways at the time of EMS call. Although EMS dispatch-instruction was associated significantly with an increase in layperson CPR, abnormal breathing was associated with a much lower rate of CPR instruction and, in turn, was related to a much lower rate of bystander CPR.