The Association of Early Naloxone Use with Outcomes in Non-Shockable Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the association between early naloxone use and outcomes after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) with initial non-shockable rhythms. METHODS: This study was a secondary analysis of data collected in the Portland Cardiac Arrest Epidemiologic Registry, a database containing details of emergency medical services (EMS)-treated OHCA cases in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan region. Eligible patients had non-traumatic OHCA with an initial non-shockable rhythm and received naloxone by EMS or law enforcement prior to IV/IO access (exposure group). The primary outcome was ROSC at emergency department (ED) arrival. Secondary outcomes included survival to admission, survival to hospital discharge, and cerebral performance category score ≤2 at discharge (good neurologic outcome). We performed multivariable logistic regressions adjusting for age, sex, arrest location, witness status, bystander interventions, dispatch to EMS arrival time, initial rhythm, and county of arrest. RESULTS: There were 1807 OHCA cases from 2018-2021 meeting eligibility criteria, with 57 receiving naloxone before vascular access. Patients receiving naloxone prior to vascular access attempts had higher adjusted odds (aOR [95% CI]) of ROSC at any time (2.14 [1.20 - 3.81]), ROSC at ED arrival (2.14 [1.18 - 3.88]), survival to admission (2.86 [1.60 - 5.09]), survival to discharge (4.41 [1.78 - 10.97]), and good neurologic outcome (4.61 [1.74 - 12.19]). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with initial non-shockable OHCA who received law enforcement or EMS naloxone prior to IV/IO access attempts had higher adjusted odds of ROSC at any time, ROSC at ED arrival, survival to admission, survival to discharge, and good neurologic outcome.

Survival After Intra-Arrest Transport vs On-Scene Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in Children.

Importance: For pediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), emergency medical services (EMS) may elect to transport to the hospital during active cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) (ie, intra-arrest transport) or to continue on-scene CPR for the entirety of the resuscitative effort. The comparative effectiveness of these strategies is unclear. Objective: To evaluate the association between intra-arrest transport compared with continued on-scene CPR and survival after pediatric OHCA, and to determine whether this association differs based on the timing of intra-arrest transport. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study included pediatric patients aged younger than 18 years with EMS-treated OHCA between December 1, 2005 and June 30, 2015. Data were collected from the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium Epidemiologic Registry, a prospective 10-site OHCA registry in the US and Canada. Data analysis was performed from May 2022 to February 2024. Exposures: Intra-arrest transport, defined as an initiation of transport prior to the return of spontaneous circulation, and the interval between EMS arrival and intra-arrest transport. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was survival to hospital discharge. Patients who underwent intra-arrest transport at any given minute after EMS arrival were compared with patients who were at risk of undergoing intra-arrest transport within the same minute using time-dependent propensity scores calculated from patient demographics, arrest characteristics, and EMS interventions. We examined subgroups based on age (<1 year vs ≥1 year). Results: Of 2854 eligible pediatric patients (median [IQR] age, 1 [0-9] years); 1691 males [59.3%]) who experienced OHCA between December 2005 and June 2015, 1892 children (66.3%) were treated with intra-arrest transport and 962 children (33.7%) received continued on-scene CPR. The median (IQR) time between EMS arrival and intra-arrest transport was 15 (9-22) minutes. In the propensity score-matched cohort (3680 matched cases), there was no significant difference in survival to hospital discharge between the intra-arrest transport group and the continued on-scene CPR group (87 of 1840 patients [4.7%] vs 95 of 1840 patients [5.2%]; risk ratio [RR], 0.81 [95% CI, 0.59-1.10]). Survival to hospital discharge was not modified by the timing of intra-arrest transport (P value for the interaction between intra-arrest transport and time to matching = .10). Among patients aged younger than 1 year, intra-arrest transport was associated with lower survival to hospital discharge (RR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.33-0.83) but there was no association for children aged 1 year or older (RR, 1.22; 95% CI, 0.77-1.93). Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study of a North American OHCA registry, intra-arrest transport compared with continued on-scene CPR was not associated with survival to hospital discharge among children with OHCA. However, intra-arrest transport was associated with a lower likelihood of survival to hospital discharge among children aged younger than 1 year.

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest outcomes when law enforcement arrives before emergency medical services.

BACKGROUND: Law enforcement (LE) professionals are often dispatched to out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) to provide early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) application with mixed evidence of a survival benefit. Our objective was to comprehensively evaluate LE care in OHCA. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of adults with non-traumatic OHCA not witnessed by EMS and without bystander AED use from 2018-2021. Our primary outcome was survival with Cerebral Perfusion Category score ≤ 2 (functional survival). Our exposures included: LE On-scene Only (without providing care); LE CPR Only (without applying an AED); LE Ideal Care (ensuring CPR and AED application). Our control group had no LE arrival before EMS. We performed multivariable logistic regression analyses adjusting for confounders and stratified our analyses by patients with and without bystander CPR. RESULTS: There were 2569 adult, non-traumatic OHCAs from 2018-2021 meeting inclusion criteria. There were no differences in the odds of functional survival for LE On-scene Only (adjusted odds ratio [95% CI]: 1.28 [0.47-3.45]), LE CPR Only (1.26 [0.80-1.99]), or LE Ideal Care (1.36 [0.79-2.33]). In patients without bystander CPR, LE Ideal Care had significantly higher odds of functional survival (2.01 [1.06-3.81]) compared to no LE on-scene, with no significant associations for LE On-scene Only or LE CPR Only. There were no significant differences by LE care in patients already receiving bystander CPR. CONCLUSIONS: LE arrival before EMS and ensuring both CPR and AED application is associated with significantly improved functional survival in OHCA patients not already receiving bystander CPR.

Utility of end-tidal carbon dioxide to guide resuscitation termination in prolonged out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To evaluate if the change in end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) over time has improved discriminatory value for determining resuscitation futility compared to a single ETCO2 value in prolonged, refractory non-shockable out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of adult refractory non-shockable, non-traumatic OHCA patients in the Portland Cardiac Arrest Epidemiologic Registry (PDX Epistry) from 2018 to 2021. We defined refractory non-shockable OHCA cases as patients with lack of a shockable rhythm at any time or return of spontaneous circulation at any time prior to 30-min of on-scene resuscitation. We abstracted ETCO2 values first recorded after advanced airway placement and nearest to the 30-min mark of on-scene resuscitation (30 min-ETCO2) from EMS charts. The primary outcome was survival to hospital discharge. We compared 30 min-ETCO2 cutoffs of 10 mmHg and 20 mmHg to the trend (increasing or not) from initial to 30 min-ETCO2 (delta-ETCO2) using sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating curves (AUROC). RESULTS: Of 3837 adult OHCA, 2850 were initially non-shockable, and there were 617 (16.1%) cases of refractory non-shockable OHCA at 30-min. We excluded 320 cases without at least two ETCO2 recordings in the EMS chart, leaving 297 cases that met inclusion criteria. Of these, 176 (59.3%) were transported and 2 (0.7%) survived to discharge. Using absolute 30 min-ETCO2 cutoffs, both survivors were in the >10 mmHg group (sensitivity 100.0%, specificity 12.5%), whereas only one survivor was identified in the >20 mmHg group (sensitivity 50.0%, specificity 32.5%). Using delta-ETCO2, both survivors were in the increasing ETCO2 group (sensitivity 100.0%, specificity 60.7%). In comparing the two tests that did not misclassify survivors, the AUROC [95% CI] was higher when using delta-ETCO2 (0.803 [0.775-0.831]) compared to an absolute cutoff of 10 mmHg (0.563 [0.544-0.582]). CONCLUSIONS: Nearly one-sixth of EMS-treated adult OHCA patients had refractory non-shockable arrests after at least 30 min of ongoing resuscitation. In this group, the ETCO2 trend following advanced airway placement may be more accurate in guiding termination of resuscitation than an absolute ETCO2 cutoff of 10 or 20 mmHg.

Outcomes with Tibial and Humeral Intraosseous Access Compared to Peripheral Intravenous Access in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest.

BACKGROUND: The optimal initial vascular access strategy for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) remains unknown. Our objective was to evaluate the association between peripheral intravenous (PIV), tibial intraosseous (TIO), or humeral intraosseous (HIO) as first vascular attempt strategies and outcomes for patients suffering OHCA. METHOD: This was a secondary analysis of the Portland Cardiac Arrest Epidemiologic Registry, which included adult patients (≥18 years-old) with EMS-treated, non-traumatic OHCA from 2018-2021. The primary independent variable in our analysis was the initial vascular access strategy, defined as PIV, TIO, or HIO based on the first access attempt. The primary outcome for this study was the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) at emergency department (ED) arrival (a palpable pulse on arrival to the hospital). Secondary outcomes included survival to: admission, discharge, and discharge with a favorable outcome (Cerebral Perfusion Category score of ≤2). We conducted multivariable logistic regressions, adjusting for confounding variables and for clustering using a mixed-effects approach, with prespecified subgroup analyses by initial rhythm. RESULTS: We included 2,993 patients with initial vascular access strategies of PIV (822 [27.5%]), TIO (1,171 [39.1%]), and HIO (1,000 [33.4%]). Multivariable analysis showed lower odds of ROSC at ED arrival (adjusted odds ratio [95% CI]) with TIO (0.79 [0.64-0.98]) or HIO (0.75 [0.60-0.93]) compared to a PIV-first strategy. These associations remained in stratified analyses for those with shockable initial rhythms (0.60 [0.41-0.88] and 0.53 [0.36-0.79]) but not in patients with asystole or pulseless electrical activity for TIO and HIO compared to PIV, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in adjusted odds for survival to admission, discharge, or discharge with a favorable outcome for TIO or HIO compared to the PIV-first group in the overall analysis. Patients with shockable initial rhythms had lower adjusted odds of survival to discharge (0.63 [0.41-0.96] and 0.64 [0.41-0.99]) and to discharge with a favorable outcome (0.60 [0.39-0.93] and 0.64 [0.40-1.00]) for TIO and HIO compared to PIV, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: TIO or HIO as first access strategies in OHCA were associated with lower odds of ROSC at ED arrival compared to PIV.

Urine culture practices for complicated urinary tract infections in an academic emergency department.

OBJECTIVE: Complicated UTIs (cUTIs) are defined by a heterogenous group of risk factors that place the patient at increased risk of treatment failure in whom urine cultures are recommended. We evaluated the ordering practices for urine cultures for cUTI patients and patient outcomes in an academic hospital setting. METHODS: Retrospective chart review of adults of 18 years and older with cUTIs diagnosed in a single academic emergency department (ED). We reviewed 398 patient encounters based on a range of ICD-10 diagnosis codes consistent with cUTI between 1/1/2019 and 6/30/2019. The definition of cUTI consisted of thirteen subgroups composited from existing literature and guidelines. The primary outcome was ordering a urine culture for cUTI. We also assessed impact of the urine culture results and compared clinical course severity and readmission rates between cultured and not cultured patients. RESULTS: During this period, the ED had 398 potential cUTI visits based on ICD-10 code, of which 330 (82.9%) met the study inclusion criteria for cUTI. Of these cUTI encounters, clinicians failed to obtain urine cultures in 92 (29.8%). Of the 217 cUTI with cultures, 121 (55.8%) demonstrated sensitivity to original treatment, 10 (4.6%) demonstrated the need to change antimicrobial coverage, 49 (22.6%) demonstrated the presence of contamination, and 29 (13.4%) demonstrated insignificant growth. Patients with cUTI who received cultures experienced higher rates of admission to both ED observation (33.2% vs 16.3%, p = 0.003) and the hospital (41.9% vs 23.8%, p = 0.003) compared to those with missed cultures. Admitted cUTI patients experienced greater length of hospital stay when cultures were obtained (3.23 vs 1.53 days, p < 0.001). Readmission rates for patients with cUTI discharged from the ED within 30 days were 4.0% for patients with urine cultures and 7.3% for patients without urine cultures (p = 0.155). CONCLUSION: Over a quarter of cUTI patients in this study did not receive a urine culture. Further studies are needed to assess if improving adherence to urine culturing practices for cUTIs will impact clinical outcomes.

Survival by time-to-administration of amiodarone, lidocaine, or placebo in shock-refractory out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

BACKGROUND: Amiodarone and lidocaine have not been shown to have a clear survival benefit compared to placebo for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). However, randomized trials may have been impacted by delayed administration of the study drugs. We sought to evaluate how timing from emergency medical services (EMS) arrival on scene to drug administration affects the efficacy of amiodarone and lidocaine compared to placebo. METHOD: This is a secondary analysis of the 10-site, 55-EMS-agency double-blind randomized controlled amiodarone, lidocaine, or placebo in OHCA study. We included patients with initial shockable rhythms who received the study drugs of amiodarone, lidocaine, or placebo before achieving return of spontaneous circulation. We performed logistic regression analyses evaluating survival to hospital discharge and secondary outcomes of survival to admission and functional survival (modified Rankin scale score ≤ 3). We evaluated the samples stratified by early (<8 min) and late administration groups (≥8 min). We compared outcomes for amiodarone and lidocaine compared to placebo and adjust for potential confounders. RESULTS: There were 2802 patients meeting inclusion criteria, with 879 (31.4%) in the early (<8 min) and 1923 (68.6%) in the late (≥8 min) groups. In the early group, patients receiving amiodarone, compared to placebo, had significantly higher survival to admission (62.0% vs. 48.5%, p = 0.001; adjusted OR [95% CI] 1.76 [1.24-2.50]), survival to discharge (37.1% vs. 28.0%, p = 0.021; 1.56 [1.07-2.29]), and functional survival (31.6% vs. 23.3%, p = 0.029; 1.55 [1.04-2.32]). There were no significant differences with early lidocaine compared to early placebo (p > 0.05). Patients in the late group who received amiodarone or lidocaine had no significant differences in outcomes at discharge compared to placebo (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The early administration of amiodarone, particularly within 8 min, is associated with greater survival to admission, survival to discharge, and functional survival compared to placebo in patients with an initial shockable rhythm.

Under-Triage and Over-Triage Using the Field Triage Guidelines for Injured Patients: A Systematic Review.

OBJECTIVES: The Field Triage Guidelines (FTG) are used across North America to identify seriously injured patients for transport to appropriate level trauma centers, with a goal of under-triaging no more than 5% and over-triaging between 25% and 35%. Our objective was to systematically review the literature on under-triage and over-triage rates of the FTG. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of the FTG performance. Ovid Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane databases were searched for studies published between January 2011 and February 2021. Two investigators dual-reviewed eligibility of abstracts and full-text. We included studies evaluating under- or over-triage of patients using the FTG in the prehospital setting. We excluded studies not reporting an outcome of under- or over-triage, studies evaluating other triage tools, or studies of triage not in the prehospital setting. Two investigators independently assessed the risk of bias for each included article. The primary accuracy measures to assess the FTG were under-triage, defined as seriously injured patients transported to non-trauma hospitals (1-sensitivity), and over-triage, defined as non-injured patients transported to trauma hospitals (1-specificity). Due to heterogeneity, results were synthesized qualitatively. RESULTS: We screened 2,418 abstracts, reviewed 315 full-text publications, and identified 17 studies that evaluated the accuracy of the FTG. Among eight studies evaluating the entire FTG (steps 1-4), under-triage rates ranged from 1.6% to 72.0% and were higher for older (≥55 or ≥65 years) adults (20.1-72.0%) and pediatric (<15 years) patients (15.9-34.8%) compared to all ages (1.6-33.8%). Over-triage rates ranged from 9.9% to 87.4% and were higher for all ages (12.2-87.4%) compared to older (≥55 or ≥65 years) adults (9.9-48.2%) and pediatric (<15 years) patients (28.0-33.6%). Under-triage was lower in studies strictly applying the FTG retrospectively (1.6-34.8%) compared to as-practiced (10.5-72.0%), while over-triage was higher retrospectively (64.2-87.4%) compared to as-practiced (9.9-48.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Evidence suggests that under-triage, while improved if the FTG is strictly applied, remains above targets, with higher rates of under-triage in both children and older adults.

Utilization and Effect of Direct Medical Oversight during Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Direct medical oversight (DMO), where emergency medical services (EMS) clinicians contact a physician for real-time medical direction, is used by many EMS systems across the United States. Our objective was to characterize the recommendations made by DMO during out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) and to determine their effect on EMS transport decisions and patient outcomes. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of DMO call recordings from OHCA cases in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area from January 1, 2018 to February 28, 2021. Data extracted from the audio recordings were linked to OHCA cases in the Portland Cardiac Arrest Epidemiologic Registry (PDX Epistry). The primary outcomes are recommendations made by DMO: transport, continued field resuscitation, or termination of resuscitation (TOR). Secondary outcomes include EMS transport decisions, survival to hospital admission, and survival to hospital discharge. We used descriptive statistics, unpaired t-tests, and chi-square tests as appropriate for data analysis. RESULTS: There were 239 OHCA cases for which DMO was contacted by EMS. The median time from EMS arrival to DMO contact was 25.6 min, and EMS requested TOR for 72.0% of patients. Compared to patients where EMS requested further treatment advice, patients for whom EMS requested TOR had poor prognostic signs including older age, asystole as an initial rhythm, and lower rates of transient return of spontaneous circulation prior to DMO call compared with cases where EMS did not request TOR. DMO recommended transport, continued field resuscitation, or TOR in 21.8%, 18.0%, and 60.2% of patients, respectively. Of the 239 patients, 59 (24.7%) were ultimately transported by EMS to the hospital, 14 (5.9%) survived to admission, and only 1 patient (0.4%) survived to hospital discharge and had an acceptable neurologic outcome (Cerebral Performance Category score of 2). CONCLUSIONS: Patients for whom EMS contacts DMO for further treatment advice or requesting field TOR after prolonged OHCA resuscitation have poor outcomes, even when DMO recommends transport or further resuscitation, and may represent opportunities to reduce unnecessary DMO contact or patient transports. More research is needed to determine which OHCA patients benefit from DMO contact.

Development of a clinical decision rule for the early prediction of Shock-Refractory Out-of-Hospital cardiac arrest.

BACKGROUND: Nearly half of ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia (VF/VT) out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients receive three or more shocks, often referred to as refractory VF/VT. Our objective was to derive a clinical decision rule (CDR) for the early stratification of patients into risk categories for refractory VF/VT. METHODS: We included adults with non-traumatic OHCA in the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium Epistry (2011-2015) with ≥ 1 EMS shock. We used Classification and Regression Tree analysis for CDR building using variables known at initial EMS rhythm analysis including age, sex, witness, location, bystander interventions, initial EMS rhythm, obvious non-cardiac etiology, and dispatch to arrival times. The outcome was refractory VF/VT (≥3 shocks). We calculated sensitivity, specificity, area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC), and odds ratios (OR). The rule was validated using the Portland Cardiac Arrest Epidemiologic Registry (2018-2020). RESULTS: There were 17,140 eligible patients and 8,146 (47.5%) had refractory VF/VT. The optimal CDR (AUROC = 0.671) defined three groups: high-risk were any patients requiring an EMS shock after a bystander AED shock; moderate-risk were any non-EMS witnessed arrests with shockable initial EMS rhythms; and the remainder were low-risk. Refractory VF/VT increased across the low (30.7%), moderate (58.5%) and high-risk (84.8%) groups. Compared to low-risk, being moderate-risk or higher (OR [95% CI]:3.37 [3.16-3.59]; sensitivity 72.7%; specificity 55.9%) or high-risk (OR:12.63 [9.89-16.13]; sensitivity 5.4%; specificity 99.1%) had higher odds of refractory VF/VT. Results was similar in the validation cohort (n = 765, AUROC = 0.672). CONCLUSIONS: Patients at higher risk for refractory VF/VT can be identified early in EMS care.

Mechanism of injury and special considerations as predictive of serious injury: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVES: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's field triage guidelines (FTG) are routinely used by emergency medical services personnel for triaging injured patients. The most recent (2011) FTG contains physiologic, anatomic, mechanism, and special consideration steps. Our objective was to systematically review the criteria in the mechanism and special consideration steps that might be predictive of serious injury or need for a trauma center. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of the predictive utility of mechanism and special consideration criteria for predicting serious injury. A research librarian searched in Ovid Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane databases for studies published between January 2011 and February 2021. Eligible studies were identified using a priori inclusion and exclusion criteria. Studies were excluded if they lacked an outcome for serious injury, such as measures of resource use, injury severity scores, mortality, or composite measures using a combination of outcomes. Given the heterogeneity in populations, measures, and outcomes, results were synthesized qualitatively focusing on positive likelihood ratios (LR+) whenever these could be calculated from presented data or adjusted odds ratios (aOR). RESULTS: We reviewed 2418 abstracts and 315 full-text publications and identified 42 relevant studies. The factors most predictive of serious injury across multiple studies were death in the same vehicle (LR+ 2.2-7.4), ejection (aOR 3.2-266.2), extrication (LR+ 1.1-6.6), lack of seat belt use (aOR 4.4-11.3), high speeds (aOR 2.0-2.9), concerning crash variables identified by vehicle telemetry systems (LR+ 4.7-22.2), falls from height (LR+ 2.4-5.9), and axial load or diving (aOR 2.5-17.6). Minor or inconsistent predictors of serious injury were vehicle intrusion (LR+ 0.8-7.2), cardiopulmonary or neurologic comorbidities (LR+ 0.8-3.1), older age (LR+ 0.6-6.8), or anticoagulant use (LR+ 1.1-1.8). CONCLUSIONS: Select mechanism and special consideration criteria contribute positively to appropriate field triage of potentially injured patients.

The association of race with CPR quality following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

INTRODUCTION: Previous studies have shown racial disparities in outcomes after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Although several treatment factors may account for these differences, there is limited information regarding differences in CPR quality and its effect on survival in underrepresented racial populations. METHODS: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from patients enrolled in the Pragmatic Airway Resuscitation Trial (PART). We calculated compliance rates with AHA 2015 high quality CPR metrics as well as compliance to intended CPR strategy (30:2 or continuous chest compression) based on the protocol in place for the first responding EMS agency. The primary analysis used general estimating equations logistic regression to examine differences between black and white patients based on EMS-assessed race after adjustment for potential confounders. Sensitivity analyses examined differences using alternate race definitions. RESULTS: There were 3004 patients enrolled in PART of which 1734 had > 2 minutes of recorded CPR data and an EMS-assessed race (1003 white, 555 black, 176 other). Black patients had higher adjusted odds of compression rate compliance (OR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.02-1.81) and lower adjusted odds of intended CPR strategy compliance (OR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.63-0.98) compared to white patients. Of 974 transported to the hospital, there was no difference in compliance metric estimates based on ED-reported race. CONCLUSION: Compression rate compliance was higher in black patients however compliance with intended strategy was lower based on EMS-assessed race. The remaining metrics showed no difference suggesting that CPR quality differences are not important contributors to the observed outcome disparities by race.

The Association Between the Number of Prehospital Providers On-Scene and Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Outcomes.

Objective: The ideal number of emergency medical services (EMS) providers needed on-scene during an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) resuscitation is unknown. Our objective was to evaluate the association between the number of providers on-scene and OHCA outcomes. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of adults (≥18 years old) with non-traumatic OHCA from a 10-site North American prospective cardiac arrest registry (Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium) including a 2005-2011 cohort and a 2011-2015 cohort. The primary outcome was survival to hospital discharge. We calculated the median number of EMS providers on-scene during the first 10 minutes of the resuscitation and used multivariable logistic regression adjusting for age, sex, witness status, bystander CPR, arrest location, initial rhythm, and dispatch to EMS arrival time. Results: There were 30,613 and 41,946 patients with necessary variables in the 2005-2011 and 2011-2015 cohorts, respectively. Survival to hospital discharge (95% CI) was higher with 9 or more providers on-scene (17.2% [15.8-18.5] and 14.0% [12.6-15.4]) compared to 7-8 (14.1% [13.4-14.8] and 10.5% [9.9-11.1]), 5-6 (10.0% [9.5-10.5] and 8.5% [8.1-8.9]), 3-4 (10.5% [9.3-11.6] and 9.3% [8.5-10.1]), and 1-2 (8.6% [7.2-10.0] and 8.0% [7.1-9.0]) providers for the 2005-2011 and 2011-2015 cohorts, respectively. In multivariable logistic regressions, compared to 5-6 providers, there were no significant differences in survival to hospital discharge for 1-2 or 3-4 providers, while having 7-8 (adjusted odds ratios (aORs) 1.53 [1.39-1.67] and 1.31 [1.20-1.44]) and 9 or more (aORs 1.76 [1.56-1.98] and 1.63 [1.41-1.89]) providers were associated with improved survival in both the 2005-2011 and 2011-2015 cohorts, respectively. Conclusions: The presence of seven or more prehospital providers on-scene was associated with significantly greater adjusted odds of survival to hospital discharge after OHCA compared to fewer on-scene providers.

Association of Advanced Airway Insertion Timing and Outcomes After Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: While often prioritized in the resuscitation of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, the optimal timing of advanced airway insertion is unknown. We evaluated the association between the timing of advanced airway (laryngeal tube and endotracheal intubation) insertion attempt and survival to hospital discharge in adult out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. METHODS: We performed a secondary analysis of the Pragmatic Airway Resuscitation Trial (PART), a clinical trial comparing the effects of laryngeal tube and endotracheal intubation on outcomes after adult out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. We stratified the cohort by randomized airway strategy (laryngeal tube or endotracheal intubation). Within each subset, we defined a time-dependent propensity score using patients, arrest, and emergency medical services systems characteristics. Using the propensity score, we matched each patient receiving an initial attempt of laryngeal tube or endotracheal intubation with a patient at risk of receiving laryngeal tube or endotracheal intubation attempt within the same minute. RESULTS: Of 2,146 eligible patients, 1,091 (50.8%) and 1,055 (49.2%) were assigned to initial laryngeal tube and endotracheal intubation strategies, respectively. In the propensity score-matched cohort, timing of laryngeal tube insertion attempt was not associated with survival to hospital discharge: 0 to lesser than 5 minutes (risk ratio [RR]=1.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.53 to 3.44); 5 to lesser than10 minutes (RR=1.07, 95% CI 0.66 to 1.73); 10 to lesser than 15 minutes (RR=1.17, 95% CI 0.60 to 2.31); or 15 to lesser than 20 minutes (RR=2.09, 95% CI 0.35 to 12.47) after advanced life support arrival. Timing of endotracheal intubation attempt was also not associated with survival: 0 to lesser than 5 minutes (RR=0.50, 95% CI 0.05 to 4.87); 5 to lesser than10 minutes (RR=1.20, 95% CI 0.51 to 2.81); 10 to lesser than15 minutes (RR=1.03, 95% CI 0.49 to 2.14); 15 to lesser than 20 minutes (RR=0.85, 95% CI 0.30 to 2.42); or more than/equal to 20 minutes (RR=0.71, 95% CI 0.07 to 7.14). CONCLUSION: In the PART, timing of advanced airway insertion attempt was not associated with survival to hospital discharge.

Neurologic prognostication after resuscitation from cardiac arrest.

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest remains a leading cause of mortality in the United States, and the majority of patients who die after achieving return of spontaneous circulation die from withdrawal of care due to a perceived poor neurologic prognosis. Unfortunately, withdrawal of care often occurs during the first day of admission and research suggests this early withdrawal of care may be premature and result in unnecessary deaths for patients who would have made a full neurologic recovery. In this review, we explore the evidence for neurologic prognostication in the emergency department for patients who achieve return of spontaneous circulation after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Racial disparities in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest interventions and survival in the Pragmatic Airway Resuscitation Trial.

BACKGROUND: Prior studies have reported racial disparities in survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). However, these studies did not evaluate the association of race with OHCA course of care and outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate racial disparities in OHCA airway placement success and patient outcomes in the multicenter Pragmatic Airway Resuscitation Trial (PART). METHOD: We conducted a secondary analysis of adult OHCA patients enrolled in PART. The parent trial randomized subjects to initial advanced airway management with laryngeal tube or endotracheal intubation. For this analysis, the primary independent variable was patient race categorized by emergency medical services (EMS) as white, black, Hispanic, other, and unknown. We used general estimating equations to examine the association of race with airway attempt success, 72-h survival, and survival to hospital discharge, adjusting for sex, age, witness status, bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), initial rhythm, arrest location, and PART randomization cluster. RESULTS: Of 3002 patients, EMS-assessed race as 1537 white, 860 black, 163 Hispanic, 90 other, and 352 unknown. Initial shockable rhythms (13.8% vs. 21.5%, p < 0.001), bystander CPR (35.6% vs. 51.4%, p < 0.001), and survival to hospital discharge (7.6% vs. 10.8%, p = 0.011) were lower for black compared to white patients. After adjustment for confounders, no difference was seen in airway success, 72-h survival, and survival to hospital discharge by race. CONCLUSIONS: In one of the largest studies evaluating differences in prehospital airway interventions and outcomes by EMS-assessed race for OHCA patients, we found no significant adjusted differences between airway success or survival outcomes.