The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence and survival outcomes of EMS-witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

• Published in: Resuscitation 2023-06, Vol.187, p.109770-109770, Article 109770
• Main Authors: Kennedy, Charlotte, Alqudah, Zainab, Stub, Dion, Anderson, David, Nehme, Ziad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation - methods; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; Emergency medical services; Emergency Medical Services - methods; Humans; Incidence; Out of hospital cardiac arrest; Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest - epidemiology; Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest - therapy; Pandemics; Registries; Survival; Victoria - epidemiology; Witness
• ISSN: 0300-9572; 1873-1570
• DOI: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2023.109770

We sought to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence and survival outcomes of emergency medical service (EMS)-witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in Victoria, Australia. We performed an interrupted time-series analysis of adult EMS-witnessed OHCA patients of medical aetiology. Patients treated during the COVID-19 period (1st March 2020 to 31st December 2021) were compared to a historical comparator period (1st January 2012 and 28th February 2020). Multivariable poisson and logistic regression models were used to examine changes in incidence and survival outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. We included 5,034 patients, 3,976 (79.0%) in the comparator period and 1,058 (21.0%) in the COVID-19 period. Patients in the COVID-19 period had longer EMS response times, fewer public location arrests and were significantly more likely to receive mechanical CPR and laryngeal mask airways compared to the historical period (all p