BACKGROUND Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a significant public health problem, and rates of survival after resuscitation remain well below 10%. While several resuscitation-related factors are consistently associated with survival from SCA, the impact of specific comorbid conditions has not been assessed. METHODS AND RESULTS The Oregon Sudden Unexpected Study is an ongoing, multisource, commun...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Sudden cardiac arrest (CA) represents one of the greatest challenges for medicine due to the vast number of cases and its social and economic impact. Despite advances in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) techniques, mortality rates have not significantly decreased over decades. This study was undertaken to characterize patients that have suffered CA and to identify fac...

OBJECTIVE To identify factors associated with not attempting resuscitation. METHODS A cross-sectional study conducted at the emergency department of a teaching hospital. The sample consisted of 285 patients; in that, 216 were submitted to cardiopulmonary resuscitation and 69 were not. The data were collected by means of the in-hospital Utstein Style. To compare resuscitation attempts with var...

OBJECTIVE To determine the epidemiology of out of hospital sudden cardiac death (OHSCD) in Belfast from 1 August 2003 to 31 July 2004. DESIGN Prospective examination of out of hospital cardiac arrests by using the Utstein style and necropsy reports. World Health Organization criteria were applied to determine the number of sudden cardiac deaths. RESULTS Of 300 OHSCDs, 197 (66%) in men, mean...

AIM The aim of this study was to investigate if an initial ETCO2 value at or below 1.3 kPa can be used as a cut-off value for whether return of spontaneous circulation during pre-hospital cardio-pulmonary resuscitation is achievable or not. MATERIALS AND METHODS We prospectively registered data according to the Utstein-style template for reporting data from pre-hospital advanced airway manage...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation and to estimate how long cardiopulmonary resuscitation can be extended with acceptable results. DESIGN Review of consecutive adult in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation patients without return of spontaneous circulation in 10 mins and with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation re...

OBJECTIVE To determine the prognosis of patients with ventricular fibrillation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Hong Kong and examine its relationship with the other links in the chain of survival. DESIGN Prospective descriptive study. SETTING Three accident and emergency departments, Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS Patients older than 18 years with non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arres...