Heart : official journal of the British Cardiac Society
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To examine 30 day survival after acute myocardial infarction as an outcome indicator, and explore the effects of adjusting for available prognostic factors such as age, sex, co-morbidity, deprivation, and deaths outside hospital. ⋯ One month survival after acute myocardial infarction could be a useful means of measuring outcome of hospital care. There was important geographical variation in one month survival. These differences could be accounted for by variations in referral, admission, diagnosis, definition, and coding. These variables merit further research and local clinical audit before one month survival after acute myocardial infarction can be reliably used for detecting differences in quality of care. In addition, it would be essential to take account of infarct severity.
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To determine the epidemiology of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and survival after resuscitation and to apply the Utstein style of reporting to data collection. ⋯ After implementation of major changes in the emergency medical services system during the 1980s survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest markedly increased. However, early access, which has turned out to be the weakest link in the chain of survival, should receive major attention in the near future. Utstein style reporting with a modified time zero was found to be appropriate, although laborious, protocol for data collection.