Does a brief period of EMS-administered CPR before the first analysis of cardiac rhythm improve outcomes in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest compared to a longer period?
A brief period of EMS-administered CPR before initial rhythm analysis does not improve outcomes compared to a longer period in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Among patients who had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, we found no difference in the outcomes with a brief period, as compared with a longer period, of EMS-administered CPR before the first analysis of cardiac rhythm. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and others; ROC PRIMED ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00394706.).
Stiell et al. (2011) studied this question.