TY - JOUR
T1 - Symptoms reported in calls to emergency medical services within 24 hours prior to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
AU - Gnesin, Filip
AU - Mills, Elisabeth Helen Anna
AU - Jensen, Britta
AU - Møller, Amalie Lykkemark
AU - Zylyftari, Nertila
AU - Bøggild, Henrik
AU - Ringgren, Kristian Bundgaard
AU - Kragholm, Kristian
AU - Blomberg, Stig Nikolaj Fasmer
AU - Christensen, Helle Collatz
AU - Lippert, Freddy
AU - Køber, Lars
AU - Folke, Fredrik
AU - Torp-Pedersen, Christian
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Aim: There is limited evidence regarding prodromal symptoms of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). We aimed to describe patient characteristics, prodromal symptoms, and prognosis of patients contacting emergency medical services (EMS) within 24 hours before OHCA. Methods: We identified all OHCA treated by Copenhagen EMS from 2016 through 2018 using the Danish Cardiac Arrest Registry and linked them to emergency calls. We included all pre-arrest calls by patients or bystanders if they were performed 1) within 24 hours before the OHCA call or 2) during the OHCA event for EMS-witnessed OHCA. Calls were reviewed by healthcare professionals using a survey guide. Results: Among 4,071 patients, 481 patients (12 %) had 539 calls within 24 hours prior to OHCA (60 % male, median age 74 years of age). The patient spoke on the phone in 25 % of calls. The most common symptoms were breathing problems (59 %), confusion (23 %), unconsciousness (20 %), chest pain (20 %), and paleness (19 %). Patients with breathing problems compared to chest pain were more likely to be ≤ 75 years of age (55 % versus 35 %), less likely to be male (52 % versus 73 %), have shockable rhythm (10 % versus 38 %), receive bystander defibrillation (6 % versus 19 %) or EMS defibrillation (15 % versus 65 %), achieve return of spontaneous circulation (37 % versus 68 %) and survive 30 days following OHCA (10 % versus 50 %). Conclusion: More than 10% of patients with OHCA had a call to EMS within 24 hours before OHCA. The most common symptom was breathing problems which compared to chest pain had lower 30-day survival.
AB - Aim: There is limited evidence regarding prodromal symptoms of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). We aimed to describe patient characteristics, prodromal symptoms, and prognosis of patients contacting emergency medical services (EMS) within 24 hours before OHCA. Methods: We identified all OHCA treated by Copenhagen EMS from 2016 through 2018 using the Danish Cardiac Arrest Registry and linked them to emergency calls. We included all pre-arrest calls by patients or bystanders if they were performed 1) within 24 hours before the OHCA call or 2) during the OHCA event for EMS-witnessed OHCA. Calls were reviewed by healthcare professionals using a survey guide. Results: Among 4,071 patients, 481 patients (12 %) had 539 calls within 24 hours prior to OHCA (60 % male, median age 74 years of age). The patient spoke on the phone in 25 % of calls. The most common symptoms were breathing problems (59 %), confusion (23 %), unconsciousness (20 %), chest pain (20 %), and paleness (19 %). Patients with breathing problems compared to chest pain were more likely to be ≤ 75 years of age (55 % versus 35 %), less likely to be male (52 % versus 73 %), have shockable rhythm (10 % versus 38 %), receive bystander defibrillation (6 % versus 19 %) or EMS defibrillation (15 % versus 65 %), achieve return of spontaneous circulation (37 % versus 68 %) and survive 30 days following OHCA (10 % versus 50 %). Conclusion: More than 10% of patients with OHCA had a call to EMS within 24 hours before OHCA. The most common symptom was breathing problems which compared to chest pain had lower 30-day survival.
KW - Emergency medical services
KW - Epidemiology
KW - Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
KW - Public health
U2 - 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2022.10.021
DO - 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2022.10.021
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 36334842
AN - SCOPUS:85141471042
VL - 181
SP - 86
EP - 96
JO - Resuscitation
JF - Resuscitation
SN - 0300-9572
ER -