• T Hanche-Olsen and E Waage Nielsen.
• Department of Anaesthesiology, Nordland Central Hospital, Bodø, Norway.
• Eur J Emerg Med. 2002 Mar 1;9(1):19-24.

AbstractCore data according to the Utstein template was compiled from all out-of-hospital resuscitations in the city of Bodø, Northern Norway, over 7 years (1992-98). Out of a population of 34,500, 149 resuscitations were attempted. A cardiac aetiology was present in 123 patients and their median age was 72.1 years. Eighteen of the 96 patients having suffered a witnessed arrest of cardiac origin were alive after 1 year (18.8%). Fifteen had the best cerebral performance score (scale 1-5) and three had a score of 2. Survival among all resuscitated patients (149) was 18.8% also, giving a number of 62 attempted resuscitations and 11.2 survivors per 100,000 inhabitants per year, respectively. Thirty-three per cent of witnessed cardiac arrests with ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia survived to discharge, but only 7% with asystole. When the arrest was witnessed, median response time was 5 minutes, and was 3 minutes for the survivors. To our knowledge, this is the highest survival of out-of-hospital arrests in Scandinavia reported so far, and is chiefly explained by short turnout distances.

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