title: Evaluation of the use of automatic external defibrillation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Hong Kong.
abstract: A retrospective 6-month audit of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Hong Kong following the introduction of automatic external defibrillators is presented. During the 6-month period from 1 July 1995 to 31 December 1995, resuscitation was attempted on 754 patients. Of the 744 patients with cardiac arrest whose records were available, 53.6% had a witnessed arrest. Few cardiac arrest patients (8.9%) received bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the majority (80%) of arrests occurred at home. Six hundred and forty-three (86.4%) patients were declared dead on arrival at hospital or in the Accident and Emergency department; 89 (12%) died in hospital and only 12 (1.6%) were discharged alive. The average ambulance response interval (call receipt to arrival of ambulance at scene) was 6.42 min. The average arrest-to-first-shock interval was 23.77 min. Factors predicting survival included initial rhythm and arrest-to-first-shock interval. The survival rate of 1.6% is low by world standards. To improve the survival rates of people with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, the arrest-to-call interval must be reduced and the frequency of bystander CPR assistance increased. Once these changes are in place, a beneficial effect from the use of pre-hospital defibrillation might be seen.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Caritas Medical Centre, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Lui
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D004554:Electric Countershock / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate