Factors Mediating Community Race and Ethnicity Differences in Initial Shockable Rhythm for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrests in Texas.

BACKGROUND: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients from minoritized communities have lower rates of initial shockable rhythm, which is linked to favorable outcomes. We sought to evaluate the importance of initial shockable rhythm on OHCA outcomes and factors that mediate differences in initial shockable rhythm. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of the 2013-2022 Texas Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (TX-CARES). Using census tract data, we stratified OHCAs into majority race/ethnicity communities: >50% White, >50% Black, and >50% Hispanic/Latino. We compared logistic regression models between community race/ethnicity and OHCA outcome: 1) unadjusted, 2) adjusting for bystander CPR (bCPR), and 3) adjusting for initial rhythm. Using structural equation modeling, we performed mediation analyses between community race/ethnicity, OHCA characteristics, and initial shockable rhythm. RESULTS: We included 22,730 OHCAs from majority White (21.1% initial shockable rhythm), 4,749 from majority Black (15.3% shockable), and 16,054 majority Hispanic/Latino (16.1% shockable) communities. Odds of favorable neurologic outcome were lower for majority Black (0.4 [0.3-0.5]) and Hispanic/Latino (0.6 [0.6-0.7]). While adjusting for bCPR minimally changed outcome odds, adjusting for shockable rhythm increased odds for Black (0.5 [0.4-0.5]) and Hispanic/Latino (0.7 [0.6-0.8]) communities. On mediation analysis for majority Black, the top mediators of initial shockable rhythm were public location (14.6%), bystander witnessed OHCA (11.6%), and female gender (5.7%). The top mediators for majority Hispanic/Latino were bystander-witnessed OHCA (10.2%), public location (3.52%), and bystander CPR (3.49%), CONCLUSION: Bystander-witnessed OHCA and public location were the largest mediators of shockable rhythm for OHCAs from minoritized communities.

Rural cardiac arrest care and outcomes in Texas.

INTRODUCTION: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) victims in rural communities have worse outcomes despite higher rates of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) than urban communities. In this retrospective cohort study we attempt to evaluate selected aspects of the continuum of care, including post-arrest care, for rural OHCA victims, and we investigated factors that could contribute to rural areas having higher rates of bystander CPR. METHODS: We analyzed 2014-2020 Texas Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (TX-CARES) data for adult OHCAs. We linked TX-CARES data to census tract data and stratified OHCAs into urban and rural events. We created a mixed-model logistic regression to compare cardiac arrest characteristics, pre-hospital care, and post-arrest care between rural and urban settings. We adjusted for confounders and modeled census tract as a random intercept. We then compared different regression models evaluating the association between response time and bystander CPR. RESULTS: We included 1202 rural and 28,288 urban cardiac arrests. Comparing rural to urban OHCAs, rates of bystander CPR were significantly higher in rural communities (49.6% v 40.6%, aOR 1.3 95% CI 1.1-1.5). The median response time for rural (11.5 min) was longer than urban (7.3 min). The occurrence of an ambulance response time of <10 min was notably less common in rural communities when compared to urban areas (aOR 0.2, 95% CI 0.2-0.2). For post-arrest care the rates of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were higher in rural than urban communities (aOR 1.7, 95% CI 1.01-2.8). The rates of AED and TTM were similar between urban and rural communities. Survival to hospital discharge was significantly lower in rural communities than urban communities (aOR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4-0.7). Although not significant, rural communities had lower rate of survival with a cognitive performance score (CPC) of 1 or 2 (aOR 0.7, 05% CI 0.6-1.003). We identified no association between response time and bystander CPR. CONCLUSION: Patients in rural areas of Texas have lower survival after OHCA compared to patients in urban areas, despite having significantly greater rates of bystander CPR and PCI. We did not find a link between response time and bystander CPR rates.

EMS Treatment Guidelines in Major Traumatic Brain Injury With Positive Pressure Ventilation.

Importance: The Excellence in Prehospital Injury Care (EPIC) study demonstrated improved survival in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) following implementation of the prehospital treatment guidelines. The impact of implementing these guidelines in the subgroup of patients who received positive pressure ventilation (PPV) is unknown. Objective: To evaluate the association of implementation of prehospital TBI evidence-based guidelines with survival among patients with prehospital PPV. Design, Setting, and Participants: The EPIC study was a multisystem, intention-to-treat study using a before/after controlled design. Evidence-based guidelines were implemented by emergency medical service agencies across Arizona. This subanalysis was planned a priori and included participants who received prehospital PPV. Outcomes were compared between the preimplementation and postimplementation cohorts using logistic regression, stratified by predetermined TBI severity categories (moderate, severe, or critical). Data were collected from January 2007 to June 2017, and data were analyzed from January to February 2023. Exposure: Implementation of the evidence-based guidelines for the prehospital care of patient with TBI. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was survival to hospital discharge, and the secondary outcome was survival to admission. Results: Among the 21 852 participants in the main study, 5022 received prehospital PPV (preimplementation, 3531 participants; postimplementation, 1491 participants). Of 5022 included participants, 3720 (74.1%) were male, and the median (IQR) age was 36 (22-54) years. Across all severities combined, survival to admission improved (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.59; 95% CI, 1.28-1.97), while survival to discharge did not (aOR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.78-1.13). Within the cohort with severe TBI but not in the moderate or critical subgroups, survival to hospital admission increased (aOR, 6.44; 95% CI, 2.39-22.00), as did survival to discharge (aOR, 3.52; 95% CI, 1.96-6.34). Conclusions and Relevance: Among patients with severe TBI who received active airway interventions in the field, guideline implementation was independently associated with improved survival to hospital admission and discharge. This was true whether they received basic airway interventions or advanced airways. These findings support the current guideline recommendations for aggressive prevention/correction of hypoxia and hyperventilation in patients with severe TBI, regardless of which airway type is used.

Targeting hypoxia-inducible factors: therapeutic opportunities and challenges.

Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are highly conserved transcription factors that are crucial for adaptation of metazoans to limited oxygen availability. Recently, HIF activation and inhibition have emerged as therapeutic targets in various human diseases. Pharmacologically desirable effects of HIF activation include erythropoiesis stimulation, cellular metabolism optimization during hypoxia and adaptive responses during ischaemia and inflammation. By contrast, HIF inhibition has been explored as a therapy for various cancers, retinal neovascularization and pulmonary hypertension. This Review discusses the biochemical mechanisms that control HIF stabilization and the molecular strategies that can be exploited pharmacologically to activate or inhibit HIFs. In addition, we examine medical conditions that benefit from targeting HIFs, the potential side effects of HIF activation or inhibition and future challenges in this field.

Impact of Receiving Hospital on Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Outcome: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Texas.

Background Factors associated with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) outcome disparities remain poorly understood. We evaluated the role of receiving hospital on OHCA outcome disparities. Methods and Results We studied people with OHCA who survived to hospital admission from TX-CARES (Texas Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival), 2014 to 2021. Using census data, we stratified OHCAs into majority (>50%) strata: non-Hispanic White race and ethnicity, non-Hispanic Black race and ethnicity, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. We stratified hospitals into performance quartiles based on the primary outcome, survival with good neurologic outcome. We evaluated the association between race and ethnicity and care at higher-performance hospitals. We compared 3 models evaluating the association between race and ethnicity and outcome: (1) ignoring hospital, (2) adjusting for hospital as a random intercept, and (3) adjusting for hospital performance quartile. We adjusted models for possible confounders. We included 10 434 OHCAs. Hospital performance quartile outcome rates ranged from 11.3% (fourth) to 37.1% (first). Compared with OHCAs in neighborhoods of majority White race, those in neighborhoods of majority Black race (odds ratio [OR], 0.1 [95% CI, 0.1-0.1]) and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity (OR, 0.2 [95% CI, 0.2-0.2]) were less likely to be cared for at higher-performing hospitals. Compared with White neighborhoods (30.1%) and ignoring hospital, outcomes were worse in Black neighborhoods (15.4%; adjusted OR [aOR], 0.5 [95% CI, 0.4-0.5]) and Hispanic or Latino neighborhoods (19.2%; aOR, 0.6 [95% CI, 0.5-0.7]). Adjusting for hospital as a random intercept, outcomes improved for Black neighborhoods (aOR, 0.9 [95% CI, 0.7-1.05]) and Hispanic or Latino neighborhoods (aOR, 0.9 [95% CI, 0.8-0.99]). Adjusting for hospital performance quartile, outcomes improved for Black neighborhoods (aOR, 0.8 [95% CI, 0.7-1.01]) and Hispanic or Latino neighborhoods (aOR, 0.9 [95% CI, 0.8-0.996]). Conclusions In Black and Hispanic or Latino communities, OHCAs were less likely to be cared for at higher-performing hospitals, and adjusting for receiving hospital improved OHCA outcome disparities.

Guidelines for Prehospital Management of Traumatic Brain Injury 3rd Edition: Executive Summary.

Prehospital care markedly influences outcome from traumatic brain injury, yet it remains highly variable. The Brain Trauma Foundation's guidelines informing prehospital care, first published in 2002, have sought to identify and disseminate best practices. Many of its recommendations relate to the management of airway, breathing and circulation, and infrastructure for this care. Compliance with the second edition of these guidelines has been associated with significantly improved survival. A working group developed evidence-based recommendations informing assessment, treatment, and transport decision-making relevant to the prehospital care of brain injured patients. A literature search spanning May 2005 to January 2022 supplemented data contained in the 2nd edition. Identified studies were assessed for quality and used to inform evidence-based recommendations. A total of 122 published articles formed the evidentiary base for this guideline update including 5 providing Class I evidence, 35 providing Class II evidence, and 98 providing Class III evidence for the various topics. Forty evidence-based recommendations were generated, 30 of which were strong and 10 of which were weak. In many cases, new evidence allowed guidelines from the 2nd edition to be strengthened. Development of guidelines on some new topics was possible including the prehospital administration of tranexamic acid. A management algorithm is also presented. These guidelines help to identify best practices for prehospital traumatic brain injury care, and they also identify gaps in knowledge which we hope will be addressed before the next edition.

Agency factors associated with first response systems that improve out-of-hospital cardiac arrest outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Data are conflicting regarding the association between first responder (FR) intervention and improved outcomes after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). We evaluated characteristics of agencies that have positive associations between FR interventions and outcomes. METHODS: We analyzed the 2016-2021 national Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES). We defined the exposures as FR CPR and AED. The outcome was survival with favorable neurologic status. We used logistic regression models to evaluate the association between FR interventions with OHCA outcome for each agency, stratifying agencies into positive association (95% confidence interval above 1) and no/inverse association (95% confidence below or including 1). We compared characteristics between cohorts. RESULTS: For the association between FR CPR and outcomes, 21 agencies caring for 42,856 OHCAs had a positive association; 371 agencies caring for 449,824 OHCAs had no association. For FR AED, 47 agencies caring for 103,120 OHCAs had a positive association; 262 agencies caring for 327,761 OHCAs had no association. Comparing agency characteristics for FR CPR, agencies with a positive association had more annual OHCAs (+300), lower FR CPR rate (-11.3%), and lower FR AED rate (-10.8%). Comparing FR AED, agencies with a positive association had more OHCAs per year (+150.5), lower FR CPR rate (-6.8%), lower FR AED rate (-13.3%), lower response time (-0.6 minutes), and more OHCAs from high-income neighborhoods (+3.7%). CONCLUSION: FR AED more commonly had a positive association with outcomes than FR CPR. Agencies with better outcomes from FR interventions treated more OHCAs and had lower rates of FR intervention.

First Responder CPR and Survival Differences in Texas Minority and Lower Socioeconomic Status Neighborhoods.

INTRODUCTION: First responder (FR) cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an important component of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) care. However, little is known about FR CPR disparities. METHODS: We linked the 2014-2021 Texas Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (TX-CARES) database to census tract data. We included non-traumatic OHCAs that were not witnessed by 9-1-1 responders and did not receive bystander CPR. We defined census tracts as having >50% of a race/ethnicity: White, Black, or Hispanic/Latino. We also stratified patients into quartiles based on socioeconomic status (SES): household income, high school graduation, and unemployment. We also combined race/ethnicity and income to create a total of five mixed strata, comparing lower income and minority census tracts to high income White census tracts. We created mixed model logistic regression models, adjusting for confounders and modeling census tract as a random intercept. Using the models, we compared FR CPR rates for census race/ethnicity (Black and Hispanic/Latino compared to White), and SES quartiles (2nd, 3rd, and 4th quartiles compared to 1st quartiles). Secondarily, we evaluated the association between FR CPR and survival for all strata. RESULTS: We included 21,966 OHCAs, and 57.4% had FR CPR. Evaluating the association between census tract characteristic and FR CPR, majority Black (aOR 0.30, 95% CI 0.22-0.41) had a lower bystander CPR rate when compared to majority White. The lowest income quartile had a lower rate of bystander CPR (aOR 0.80, 95% CI 0.65-0.98). The worst unemployment quartile was also associated with a lower rate of FR CPR (aOR 0.75, 95% CI 0.61-0.92). Combining race/ethnicity and income, middle income majority Black (30.0%; aOR 0.27, 95% CI 0.17-0.46) and low income >80% Black (31.8%; aOR 0.27, 95% CI 0.10-0.68) had lower rates of FR CPR in comparison to high income majority White. There were no associations between Hispanic or lower high school graduation and lower rates of FR CPR. We found no association between FR CPR and survival for all three strata. CONCLUSION: While we identified disparities in FR CPR in low SES and majority Black census tracts, we identified no association between FR CPR and survival in Texas.

Correlation between prehospital and in-hospital hypotension and outcomes after traumatic brain injury.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Hypotension has a powerful effect on patient outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI). The relative impact of hypotension occurring in the field versus during early hospital resuscitation is unknown. We evaluated the association between hypotension and mortality and non-mortality outcomes in four cohorts defined by where the hypotension occurred [neither prehospital nor hospital, prehospital only, hospital only, both prehospital and hospital]. METHODS: Subjects ≥10 years with major TBI were included. Standard statistics were used for unadjusted analyses. We used logistic regression, controlling for significant confounders, to determine the adjusted odds (aOR) for outcomes in each of the three cohorts. RESULTS: Included were 12,582 subjects (69.8% male; median age 44 (IQR 26-61). Mortality by hypotension status: No hypotension: 9.2% (95%CI: 8.7-9.8%); EMS hypotension only: 27.8% (24.6-31.2%); hospital hypotension only: 45.6% (39.1-52.1%); combined EMS/hospital hypotension 57.6% (50.0-65.0%); (p < 0.0001). The aOR for death reflected the same progression: 1.0 (reference-no hypotension), 1.8 (1.39-2.33), 2.61 (1.73-3.94), and 4.36 (2.78-6.84), respectively. The proportion of subjects having hospital hypotension was 19.0% (16.5-21.7%) in those with EMS hypotension compared to 2.0% (1.8-2.3%) for those without (p < 0.0001). Additionally, the proportion of patients with TC hypotension was increased even with EMS "near hypotension" up to an SBP of 120 mmHg [(aOR 3.78 (2.97, 4.82)]. CONCLUSION: While patients with hypotension in the field or on arrival at the trauma center had markedly increased risk of death compared to those with no hypotension, those with prehospital hypotension that was not resolved before hospital arrival had, by far, the highest odds of death. Furthermore, TBI patients who had prehospital hypotension were five times more likely to arrive hypotensive at the trauma center than those who did not. Finally, even "near-hypotension" in the field was strongly and independently associated the risk of a hypotensive hospital arrival (<90 mmHg). These findings are supportive of the prehospital guidelines that recommend aggressive prevention and treatment of hypotension in major TBI.

Challenges of remotely witnessed emergencies - A case of international out-of-hospital cardiac arrest recognition via video call.

We present the first report, to our knowledge, of an Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) witnessed during a remote international video meeting. We report an emergency system activation and OHCA resuscitation initiated after an OHCA in a 41-year-old otherwise healthy female in Houston, Texas witnessed by a co-worker in Australia during a 1-on-1 Zoom video call. Remotely witnessed emergencies such as OHCA present unique challenges to successful cardiac resuscitation and will likely become significantly more common in the future as remote video calls increase.

Time to Antiarrhythmic and Association with Return of Spontaneous Circulation in the United States.

INTRODUCTION: Recent clinical trials have failed to identify a benefit of antiarrhythmic administration during cardiac arrest. However, little is known regarding the time to administration of antiarrhythmic drugs in clinical practice or its impact on return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). We utilized a national EMS registry to evaluate the time of drug administration and association with ROSC. METHODS: We utilized the 2018 and 2019 NEMSIS datasets, including all non-traumatic, adult 9-1-1 EMS activations for cardiac arrests with initial shockable rhythm and that received an antiarrhythmic. We calculated the time from 9-1-1 call to administration of antiarrhythmic. We excluded cases with erroneous time stamps. Stratified by initial antiarrhythmic (amiodarone and lidocaine), we created a mixed-effect logistic regression model evaluating the association between every 5-minute increase in time to antiarrhythmic and ROSC. We modeled EMS agency as a random intercept and adjusted for confounders. RESULTS: There were 449,630 adults, non-traumatic cardiac arrests identified with 11,939 meeting inclusion criteria. 9,236 received amiodarone and 1,327 received lidocaine initially. The median time in minutes to initial dose for amiodarone was 19.9 minutes (IQR 15.8-25.6) and for lidocaine was 19.5 minutes (IQR 15.2-25.4). Increasing time to initial antiarrhythmic was associated with decreased odds of ROSC for both amiodarone (aOR 0.9; 95% CI 0.9-0.94) and lidocaine (aOR 0.9; 95% CI 0.8-0.97). CONCLUSION: Time to administration of anti-arrhythmic medication varied, but most patients received the first dose of anti-arrhythmic drug more than 19 minutes after the initial 9-1-1 call. Longer time to administration of an antiarrhythmic in patients with an initial shockable rhythm was associated with decreased ROSC rates.

Racial/ethnic and gender disparities of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in Texas.

INTRODUCTION: Prior research shows a greater disease burden, lower BCPR rates, and worse outcomes in Black and Hispanic patients after OHCA. Female OHCA patients have lower rates of BCPR compared to men and other survival outcomes vary. The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on OHCA incidence and outcomes in different health disparity populations is unknown. METHODS: We used data from the Texas Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES). We determined the association of both prehospital characteristics and survival outcomes with the pandemic period in each study group through Pearson's χ2 test or Fisher's exact tests. We created mixed multivariable logistic regression models to compare odds of cardiac arrest care and outcomes between 2019 and 2020 for the study groups. RESULTS: Black OHCA patients (aOR = 0.73; 95% CI: 0.65 - 0.82) had significantly lower odds of BCPR compared to White OHCA patients, were less likely to achieve ROSC (aOR = 0.86; 95% CI: 0.74 - 0.99) or have a good CPC score (aOR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.29 - 0.75). Compared to White patients with OHCA, Hispanic persons were less likely to have a field TOR (aOR = 0.86; 95% CI: 0.75 - 0.99) or receive BCPR (aOR = 0.78; 95% CI: 0.69 - 0.87). Female OHCA patients had higher odds of surviving to hospital admission compared to males (aOR = 1.29; 95% CI: 1.15 - 1.44). CONCLUSION: Many OHCA outcomes worsened for Black and Hispanic patients. While some aspects of care worsened for women, their odds of survival improved compared to males.

Stroke Telemedicine for Arizona Rural Residents, the Legacy Telestroke Study.

Background: Efficacy of telemedicine for stroke was first established by the Stroke Team Remote Evaluation Using a Digital Observation Camera (STRokE DOC) trials in California and Arizona. Following these randomized controlled trials, the Stroke Telemedicine for Arizona Rural Residents (STARR) network was the first telestroke network to be established in Arizona. It consisted of a 7 spoke 1 hub telestroke system, and it was designed to serve rural, remote, or neurologically underserved communities. Objective: The objective of STARR was to establish a multicenter state-wide telestroke research network to determine the feasibility of prospective collection, recording, and regularly analysis of telestroke patient consultations and care data for the purposes of establishing quality measures, improvement, and benchmarking against other national and international telestroke programs. Methods: The STARR trial was open to enrollment for 29 months from 2008 to 2011. Mayo Clinic Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona served as the hub primary stroke center and its vascular neurologists provided emergency telestroke consultations to seven participating rural, remote, or underserved spoke community hospitals in Arizona. Eligibility criteria for activation of a telestroke alert and study enrollment were established. Consecutive patients exhibiting symptoms and signs of acute stroke within a 12 h window were enrolled, assessed, and treated by telemedicine. The state government sponsor, Arizona Department of Health Services' research grant covered the cost of acquisition, maintenance, and service of the selected telemedicine equipment as well as the professional telestroke services provided. The study deployed multiple telemedicine video cart systems, picture archive and communications systems software, and call management solutions. The STARR protocol was reviewed and approved by Mayo Clinic IRB, which served as the central IRB of record for all the participating hospitals, and the trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov. Results: The telestroke hotline was activated 537 times, and ultimately 443 subjects met criteria and consented to participate. The STARR successfully established a multicenter state-wide telestroke research network. The STARR developed a feasible and pragmatic approach to the prospective collection, storage, and analysis of telestroke patient consultations and care data for the purposes of establishing quality measures and tracking improvement. STARR benchmarked well against other national and international telestroke programs. STARR helped set the foundation for multiple regional and state telestroke networks and ultimately evolved into a national telestroke network. Conclusions: Multiple small and rurally located community hospitals and health systems can successfully collaborate with a more centrally located larger hospital center through telemedicine technologies to develop a coordinated approach to the assessment, diagnosis, and emergency treatment of patients manifesting symptoms and signs of an acute stroke syndrome. This model may serve well the needs of patients presenting with other time-sensitive medical emergencies.Clinical Trial Registration number: NCT00829361.

Impact of post-arrest care variation on hospital performance after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Background: Large variation exists for out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrest (OHCA) prehospital care, but less is known about variations in post-arrest care. We sought to evaluate variation in post-arrest care in Texas as well as factors associated with higher performing hospitals. Methods: We analyzed data in Texas Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (TX-CARES), including all adult, non-traumatic OHCAs from 1/1/2014 through 12/31/ 2020 that survived to hospital admission. We first evaluated variability in provisions of post-arrest care and outcomes. We then stratified hospitals into quartiles based on their rate of survival and evaluated the association between improving quartiles and care. Lastly, we evaluated for outliers in post-arrest care and outcomes using a mixed-effect regression model. Results: We analyzed 7,842 OHCAs admitted to 146 hospitals. We identified large variations in post-arrest care, including targeted temperature management (TTM) (IQR 7.0-51.1%), left heart catheterization (LHC) (IQ 0-25%), and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (IQR 0-10.3%). Higher performing hospital quartiles were associated with higher rates of TTM (aOR 1.42, 95% CI 1.36-1.49), LHC (aOR 2.07, 95% CI 1.92-2.23), and PCI (aOR 2.02, 95% CI 1.81-2.25); but lower rates of bystander CPR (aOR 0.90, 95% CI 0.87-0.94). We identified numerous performance outlier hospitals; 39 for TTM, 34 for PCI, 9 for survival to discharge, and 24 for survival with good neurologic function. Conclusions: Post-arrest care varied widely across Texas hospitals. Hospitals with higher rates of survival to discharge had increased rates of TTM, LHC, and PCI but not bystander CPR.

The impact of COVID-19 on incidence and outcomes from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in Texas.

INTRODUCTION: Emerging research demonstrates lower rates of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (BCPR), public AED (PAD), worse outcomes, and higher incidence of OHCA during the COVID-19 pandemic. We aim to characterize the incidence of OHCA during the early pandemic period and the subsequent long-term period while describing changes in OHCA outcomes and survival. METHODS: We analyzed adult OHCAs in Texas from the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) during March 11-December 31 of 2019 and 2020. We stratified cases into pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods. Our prehospital outcomes were bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (BCPR), public AED use (PAD), sustained ROSC, and prehospital termination of resuscitation (TOR). Our hospital survival outcomes were survival to hospital admission, survival to hospital discharge, good neurological outcomes (CPC Score of 1 or 2) and Utstein bystander survival. We created a mixed effects logistic regression model analyzing the association between the pandemic on outcomes, using EMS agency as the random intercept. RESULTS: There were 3619 OHCAs (45.0% of overall study population) in 2019 compared to 4418 (55.0% of overall study population) in 2020. Rates of BCPR (46.2% in 2019 to 42.2% in 2020, P < 0.01) and PAD (13.0% to 7.3%, p < 0.01) decreased. Patient survival to hospital admission decreased from 27.2% in 2019 to 21.0% in 2020 (p < 0.01) and survival to hospital discharge decreased from 10.0% in 2019 to 7.4% in 2020 (p < 0.01). OHCA patients were less likely to receive PAD (aOR = 0.5, 95% CI [0.4, 0.8]) and the odds of field termination increased (aOR = 1.5, 95% CI [1.4, 1.7]). CONCLUSIONS: Our study adds state-wide evidence to the national phenomenon of long-term increased OHCA incidence during COVID-19, worsening rates of BCPR, PAD use and survival outcomes.

Socioeconomic status and post-arrest care after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Texas.

INTRODUCTION: Post-arrest care after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is critical to optimizing outcomes, but little is known about socioeconomic disparities in post-arrest care. We evaluated the association of socioeconomic status (SES) with post-arrest care and outcomes. METHODS: We included adult OHCAs surviving to hospital admission from the 2014-2020 Texas Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) and stratified cases into SES quartiles based on census tract data. Outcomes were targeted temperature management (TTM), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), survival to discharge, and survival with a Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) 1-2. We applied both a multivariable logistic regression and a mixed effects logistic regression, comparing lower quartiles to top quartile for outcomes. We modeled receiving hospital as a random intercept. RESULTS: We included 9,936 OHCAs. Using multivariable logistic regression and ignoring the receiving hospital, lower income had lower TTM (Q3 aOR 0.6, 95% CI 0.5-0.7; Q4 aOR 0.5, 95% CI 0.5-0.6), lower PCI (Q4 aOR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4-0.8), and lower survival with good CPC. Lower education had lower TTM (Q2 aOR 0.7, 95% CI 0.7-0.8; Q3 aOR, 0.6 95% CI 0.5-0.7; Q4 aOR 0.6, 95% CI 0.5-0.7), lower survival, and lower survival with good CPC. Lower employment had lower TTM (Q3 aOR 0.7, 95% CI 0.6-0.9; Q4 aOR 0.7, 95% CI 0.6-0.9) and survival with good CPC. These relationships for post-arrest care were not significant on mixed model analyses though. CONCLUSION: Lower SES was linked to lower rates of post-arrest care and outcomes, but many of the associations diminished when adjusting for receiving hospital random effect. Further study is needed to evaluate for inter-hospital disparities in care.