Abstract 15527: Current Population Incidence and Survival From Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest in a Norwegian Region With Complete Follow-Up

Introduction: Population measures of cardiac arrest incidence and survival are important components of the chain of survival, and thus useful for community emergency medical service (EMS) planning and benchmarking. The Norwegian unique person identification number allows for complete case tracking and follow-up. Aims of this study were to report relevant population statistics, including trends over the last 9 years, for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in a modern EMS with a well-established cardiac arrest registry. Methods: All resuscitation attempts by the EMS in Vestfold and Telemark (mixed urban/rural area 5 830.9 mi 2 [15 102 km 2 ] with average population 369 000; 3 325 202 person-years) from 2007 to 2015 were included. The Norwegian bureau of statistics supplied age-specific population data. Confidence intervals were calculated and trends were investigated using Poisson regression. Results: Over 9 years, the EMS attempted resuscitation in a total of 2013 patients with cardiac arrest outside hospital. Among these, 558 (28 %) achieved stable return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) resulting in hospital admission; 271 (13 %) were ultimately discharged. The overall population incidence was 60.5 per 100 000 person-years (95% CI: 57.9 to 63.2) and the incidence of survival to discharge 8.1 per 100 000 person-years (95 % CI: 7.2 to 9.2). The incidence rose markedly with age (figure, with 95 % CI). No time trends were observed with respect to neither incidence nor survival (p =0.9 and p= 0.2, respectively). The prevalence of initial shockable rhythms (VF or VT) was 24 % on average and decreased slightly by 1.4 % per year (p = 0.04). Conclusions: The observed population incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in our region suggests an annual burden of more than 3000 victims in Norway. While shockable rhythms may be declining, other trends were not observed over the last 9 years. Thirteen percent overall survival is relatively high by international standards.