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It is important to predict the neurological prognoses of in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) patients immediately after recovery of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) to make further critical management. The aim of this study was to confirm the usefulness of the Cardiac Arrest Survival Post-Resuscitation In-hospital (CASPRI) and Good Outcome Following Attempted Resuscitation (GO-FAR) scores for predicting the IHCA immediately after the ROSC. This is a retrospective analysis of patient data from a tertiary general hospital located in South Korea. A total of 488 adult patients who had IHCA and achieved sustained ROSC from September 2016 to August 2021 were analyzed to compare effectiveness of the CASPRI and GO-FAR scores related to neurologic prognosis. The primary outcome was Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) score at discharge, defined as a CPC score of 1 or 2. The secondary outcomes were survival-to-discharge and normal neurological status or minimal neurological damage at discharge. Of the 488 included patients, 85 (20.8%) were discharged with good prognoses (CPC score of 1 or 2). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of CASPRI score for the prediction of a good neurological outcome was 0.75 (95% CI 0.69–0.81), whereas that of GO-FAR score was 0.67 (95% CI 0.60–0.73). The results of this study show that these scoring systems can be used for timely and satisfactory prediction of the neurological prognoses of IHCA patients after ROSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prehospital factors play a vital role in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survivability, and they vary between countries and regions. We investigated the prehospital factors associated with OHCA outcomes in a single metropolitan city in the Republic of Korea. Methods: This study included adult medical OHCA patients enrolled prospectively, using data from the citywide OHCA registry for patients registered between 2018 and 2021. The primary outcome was survival to hospital discharge. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the factors associated with the study population's clinical outcomes, adjusting for covariates. We performed a sensitivity analysis for clinical outcomes only for patients without prehospital return of spontaneous circulation prior to emergency medical service departure from the scene. Results: In multivariable logistic regression analysis, older age (odds ratio [OR] 0.96; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.95–0.97), endotracheal intubation (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.29; 95% [CIs] 0.17–0.51), supraglottic airway (aOR 0.29; 95% CI 0.17–0.51), prehospital mechanical chest compression device use (OR 0.13; 95% CI 0.08–0.18), and longer scene time interval (OR 0.96; 95% CI 0.93–1.00) were negatively associated with survival. Shockable rhythm (OR 24.54; 95% CI 12.99–42.00), pulseless electrical activity (OR 3.11; 95% CI 1.74–5.67), and witnessed cardiac arrest (OR 1.59; 95% CI 1.07–2.38) were positively associated with survival. In the sensitivity analysis, endotracheal intubation, supraglottic airway, prehospital mechanical chest compression device use, and longer scene time intervals were associated with significantly lower survival to hospital discharge. Conclusions: Regional resuscitation protocol should be revised based on the results of this study, and modifiable prehospital factors associated with lower survival of OHCA should be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This nationwide, population-based observational study investigated the association between the floor level of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) incidence and survival outcomes in South Korea, notable for its significant high-rise apartment living. Data were collected retrospectively from OHCA patients through the South Korean Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Surveillance database. The study incorporated cases that included the OHCA's building floor information. The primary outcome assessed was survival to discharge, analyzed using multivariate logistic regression, and the secondary outcome was favorable neurological outcome. Among 36,977 patients, a total of 29,729 patients were included, and 1680 patients were survivors. A weak yet significant correlation between floor level and hospital arrival time was observed. Interestingly, elevated survival rates were noted among patients from higher floors despite extended emergency medical service response times. Multivariate analysis identified age, witnessed OHCA, shockable rhythm, and prehospital return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) as primary determinants of survival to discharge. The floor level's impact on survival was less substantial than anticipated, suggesting residential emergency response enhancements should prioritize witness interventions, shockable rhythm management, and prehospital ROSC rates. The study underscores the importance of bespoke emergency response strategies in high-rise buildings, particularly in urban areas, and the potential of digital technologies to optimize response times and survival outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arterial blood gas analysis (ABGA) is one of the few tests performed during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). There have been some studies on the prediction of survival outcomes in adult out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients during CPR using ABGA results. However, in pediatric OHCA patients, the prognosis of survival outcome based on ABGA results during CPR remains unclear. We retrospectively analyzed prospectively collected data from the Korean Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation Consortium (KoCARC) registry, a multicenter OHCA registry of Republic of Korea. We analyzed 108 pediatric (age < 19 years) OHCA patients between October 2015 and June 2022. Using multivariable logistic regression, an adjusted odds ratio (aOR) was obtained to validate the ABGA results of survival to hospital admission and survival to discharge. The variables associated with survival to hospital admission were non-comorbidities (aOR 3.03, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.22–7.53, p = 0.017) and PaO2 > 45.750 mmHg (aOR 2.69, 95% CI 1.13–6.42, p = 0.026). There was no variable that was statistically significant association with survival to discharge. PaO2 > 47.750 mmHg and non-comorbidities may serve as an independent prognostic factor for survival to hospital admission in pediatric OHCA patients. However, the number of cases analyzed in our study was relatively small, and there have been few studies investigating the association between ABGA results during CPR and the survival outcome of pediatric OHCA patients. Therefore, further large-scale studies are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: During cardiac arrest (CA) and after cardiopulmonary resuscitation, activation of blood coagulation and inadequate endogenous fibrinolysis occur. The aim of this study was to describe the time course of coagulation abnormalities after out-of-hospital CA (OHCA) and to examine the association with clinical outcomes in patients undergoing targeted temperature management (TTM) after OHCA. Methods: This prospective, multicenter, observational cohort study was performed in eight emergency departments in Korea between September 2018 and September 2019. Laboratory findings from hospital admission and 24 hours after return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) were analyzed. The primary outcome was cerebral performance category (CPC) at discharge, and the secondary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Results: A total of 170 patients were included in this study. The lactic acid, prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thrombin time (aPTT), international normalized ratio (INR), and D-dimer levels were higher in patients with poor neurological outcomes at admission and 24 h after ROSC. The lactic acid and D-dimer levels decreased over time, while fibrinogen increased over time. PT, aPTT, and INR did not change over time. The PT at admission and D-dimer levels 24 h after ROSC were associated with neurological outcomes at hospital discharge. Coagulation-related factors were moderately correlated with the duration of time from collapse to ROSC. Conclusion: The time-dependent changes in coagulation-related factors are diverse. Among coagulation-related factors, PT at admission and D-dimer levels 24 h after ROSC were associated with poor neurological outcomes at hospital discharge in patients treated with TTM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: This study analyzed the prognostic impact of mechanical cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) devices in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients, in comparison to manual CPR. Materials and Methods: This study was a nationwide population-based observational study in South Korea. Data were retrospectively collected from 142,905 OHCA patients using the South Korean Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Surveillance database. We included adult OHCA patients who received manual or mechanical CPR in the emergency room. The primary outcome was survival at discharge and the secondary outcome was sustained return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). Statistical analysis included propensity score matching and multivariate logistic regression. Results: A total of 19,045 manual CPR and 1125 mechanical CPR cases (671 AutoPulseTM vs. 305 ThumperTM vs. 149 LUCASTM) were included. In the matched multivariate analyses, all mechanical CPR devices were associated with a lower ROSC than that of manual CPR. AutoPulseTM was associated with lower survival in the multivariate analysis after matching (aOR with 95% CI: 0.57 (0.33–0.96)), but the other mechanical CPR devices were associated with similar survival to discharge as that of manual CPR. Witnessed arrest was commonly associated with high ROSC, but the use of mechanical CPR devices and cardiac origin arrest were associated with low ROSC. Only target temperature management was the common predictor for high survival. Conclusions: The mechanical CPR devices largely led to similar survival to discharge as that of manual CPR in OHCA patients; however, the in-hospital use of the AutoPulseTM device for mechanical CPR may significantly lower survival compared to manual CPR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is unclear whether emergency medical service (EMS) agencies with good out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) quality indicators also perform well in treating other emergency conditions. We aimed to evaluate the association of an EMS agency's non-traumatic OHCA quality indicators with prehospital management processes and clinical outcomes of major trauma. This retrospective cross-sectional study analyzed data from registers of nationwide, population-based OHCA (adult EMS-treated non-traumatic OHCA patients from 2017 to 2018) and major trauma (adult, EMS-treated, and injury severity score ≥16 trauma patients in 2018) in South Korea. We developed a prehospital ROSC prediction model to categorize EMS agencies into quartiles (Q1-Q4) based on the observed-to-expected (O/E) ROSC ratio for each EMS agency. We evaluated the national EMS protocol compliance of on-scene management according to O/E ROSC ratio quartile. The association between O/E ROSC ratio quartiles and trauma-related early mortality was determined in a multi-level logistic regression model by adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI). Among 30,034 severe trauma patients, 4,836 were analyzed. Patients in Q4 showed the lowest early mortality rate (5.6 %, 5.5 %, 4.8 %, and 3.4 % in Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4, respectively). In groups Q1 to Q4, increasing compliance with the national EMS on-scene management protocol (trauma center transport, basic airway management for patients with altered mentality, spinal motion restriction for patients with spinal injury, and intravenous access for patients with hypotension) was observed (p for trend <0.05). Multivariable multi-level logistic regression analysis showed significantly lower early mortality in Q4 than in Q1 (adjusted OR [95 % CI] 0.56 [0.35–0.91]). Major trauma patients managed by EMS agencies with high success rates in achieving prehospital ROSC in non-traumatic OHCA were more likely to receive protocol-based care and exhibited lower early mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Survival is the most consistently captured outcome across countries for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA), with return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) representing the earliest endpoint for 'unbiased' initial resuscitation success. The ROSC after cardiac arrest (RACA) score was developed to predict ROSC and has been validated in several European countries. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the performance of RACA in a Pan-Asian population.Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of data collected in the Pan-Asian Resuscitation Outcomes Study (PAROS) registry. We included OHCA cases from seven communities (Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and United Arab Emirates) between January 2009 and December 2012. Paediatric cases, cases that were conveyed by non-emergency medical services (EMS), and cases with incomplete records were excluded from the study.Results: The RACA score showed similar discrimination performance as the original German study and various European validation studies. However, it had poor calibration with the original constant regression coefficient, which was primarily due to the low ROSC rate (8.2%) in the PAROS cohort. The calibration performance of RACA significantly improved after the constant coefficient was modified to adjust for the disparity in ROSC rates between Asia and Europe.Conclusion: This is the largest validation study of the RACA score. RACA consistently performs well in both Pan-Asian and European communities and can thus be a valuable tool for evaluating EMS systems. However, to implement it, the constant coefficient has to be modified in the RACA formula with local historical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]