• Jae Chol Yoon, Youn-Jung Kim, Shin Ahn, Young-Ho Jin, Sung-Woo Lee, Kyoung Jun Song, Sang Do Shin, Sung Oh Hwang, Won Young Kim, and Korean Cardiac Arrest Research Consortium KoCARC.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Research Institute of Clinical Medicine of Chonbuk National University-Biomedical Research Institute of Chonbuk National University Hospital, Jeonju, Republic of Korea.
• Am. Heart J. 2019 Jul 1; 213: 73-80.

BackgroundFalse positive rate (FPR) of the current basic life support (BLS) termination of resuscitation (TOR) rule in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients (not witnessed; no return of spontaneous circulation prior to transport; and no shocks were delivered) has been ethically challenging. We validated the current BLS TOR rule with using nationwide Korean Cardiac Arrest Research Consortium (KoCARC) registry and identified the factors for modifying the rules.MethodsThis prospective, multicenter, registry-based study was performed using the nontraumatic OHCA registry data between October 2015 and June 2017. Independent factors associated with poor neurologic outcome were identified to propose new KoCARC TOR rules by using multivariable analysis. The diagnostic performances of the TOR rules were calculated respectively.ResultsAmong 4,360 OHCA patients, 2,801 (64.2%) satisfied all 3 criteria of the BLS TOR rule. The FPR and positive predictive value of the BLS TOR rule were 5.9% and 99.3%. Asystole as initial rhythm and age > 60 years were found as new factors for modifying the TOR rule. New KoCARC TOR rules, combination of asystole and age > 60 years with current TOR rule, showed lower FPR (0.3%-2.1%) and higher positive predictive value (99.7%-99.9%) for predicting poor neurologic outcome at discharge.ConclusionsIn this recent nationwide cohort, the current BLS TOR rule showed high FPR (5.9%) for predicting poor neurologic outcome. We anticipate that our new KoCARC TOR rules, application of 2 new factors (asystole as initial rhythm and age > 60 years) with BLS TOR rule, could reduce unwarranted death.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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