• Ben Beck, Janet Bray, Peter Cameron, Karen Smith, Tony Walker, Hugh Grantham, Cindy Hein, Melanie Thorrowgood, Anthony Smith, Madoka Inoue, Tony Smith, Bridget Dicker, Andy Swain, Emma Bosley, Katherine Pe... more mberton, Michael McKay, Malcolm Johnston-Leek, Gavin D Perkins, Graham Nichol, Judith Finn, and Aus-ROC Steering Committee. less
• Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: ben.beck@monash.edu.
• Resuscitation. 2018 May 1; 126: 49-57.

IntroductionThe aim of this study was to investigate regional variation in the characteristics, incidence and outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in Australia and New Zealand.MethodsThis was a population-based cohort study of OHCA using data from the Aus-ROC Australian and New Zealand OHCA Epistry over the period of 01 January 2015-31 December 2015. Seven ambulance services contributed data to the Epistry with a capture population of 19.8 million people. All OHCA attended by ambulance, regardless of aetiology or patient age, were included.ResultsIn 2015, there were 19,722 OHCA cases recorded in the Aus-ROC Epistry with an overall crude incidence of 102.5 cases per 100,000 population (range: 51.0-107.7 per 100,000 population). Of all OHCA cases attended by EMS (excluding EMS-witnessed cases), bystander CPR was performed in 41% of cases (range: 36%-50%). Resuscitation was attempted (by EMS) in 48% of cases (range: 40%-68%). The crude incidence for attempted resuscitation cases was 47.6 per 100,000 population (range: 34.7-54.1 per 100,000 population). Of cases with attempted resuscitation, 28% survived the event (range: 21%-36%) and 12% survived to hospital discharge or 30 days (range: 9%-17%; data provided by five ambulance services).ConclusionIn the first results of the Aus-ROC Australian and New Zealand OHCA Epistry, significant regional variation in the incidence, characteristics and outcomes was observed. Understanding the system-level and public health drivers of this variation will assist in optimisation of the chain of survival provided to OHCA patients with the aim of improving outcomes.Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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