Utstein style—a suggestion for revision

This statement is based on four prospective and one retrospective studies on out-of-hospital cardiac arrests conducted according to the Utstein style, and on the summary that brings the five studies together [1– 6]. The prospective studies were conducted in Helsinki (population approximately 525000 inhabitants) in the Helsinki City emergency medical services (EMS) system and at the Department of Anaesthesia, University of Helsinki, during 1994–1996; the retrospective study was for the period 1985–1994. Altogether, the total number of cardiac arrest patients was 888. One of the main objectives was to evaluate the suitability of the Utstein style recommendations [7] for data collection, and to find possibilities for improvement. The recommended changes to the Utstein style are reported in this statement.