• Ryan M Carter and David C Cone.
• Department of Emergency Medicine,Yale University School of Medicine,New Haven,ConnecticutUSA.
• Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017 Oct 1; 32 (5): 523-527.

AbstractIntroduction While the overall survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is low, ranging from 5%-10%, several characteristics have been shown to decrease mortality, such as presence of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), witnessed vs unwitnessed events, and favorable initial rhythm (VF/VT). More recently, studies have shown that modified CPR algorithms, such as chest-compression only or cardio-cerebral resuscitation, can further increase survival rates in OHCA. Most of these studies have included only OHCA patients with "presumed cardiac etiology," on the assumption that airway management is of lesser impact than chest compressions in these patients. However, prehospital personnel often lack objective and consistent criteria to assess whether an OHCA is of cardiac or non-cardiac etiology. Hypothesis/Problem The relative proportions of cardiac vs non-cardiac etiology in published data sets of OHCA in the peer-reviewed literature were examined in order to assess the variability of prehospital clinical etiology assessment.

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