AIMS: To describe out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in Sweden from a long-term perspective in terms of changes in outcome and circumstances at resuscitation. METHODS AND RESULTS: All cases of OHCA (n = 59,926) reported to the Swedish Cardiac Arrest Register from 1992 to 2011 were included. The number of cases reported (n/100,000 person-years) increased from 27 (1992) to 52 (2011). Crew-witnessed cases, cardiopulmonary resuscitation prior to the arrival of the emergency medical service (EMS), and EMS response time increased (P < 0.0001). There was a decrease in the delay from collapse to calling for the EMS in all patients and from collapse to defibrillation among patients found in ventricular fibrillation (P < 0.0001). The proportion of patients found in ventricular fibrillation decreased from 35 to 25% (P < 0.0001). Thirty-day survival increased from 4.8 (1992) to 10.7% (2011) (P < 0.0001), particularly among patients found in a shockable rhythm and patients with return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) at hospital admission. Among patients hospitalized with ROSC in 2008-2011, 41% underwent therapeutic hypothermia and 28% underwent percutaneous coronary intervention. Among 30-day survivors in 2008-2011, 94% had a cerebral performance category score of 1 or 2 at discharge from hospital and the results were even better if patients were found in a shockable rhythm. CONCLUSION: From a long-term perspective, 30-day survival after OHCA in Sweden more than doubled. The increase in survival was most marked among patients found in a shockable rhythm and those hospitalized with ROSC. There were improvements in all four links in the chain of survival, which might explain the improved outcome.
Strömsöe et al. (Tue,) studied this question.