[Ambulance response intervals in connection with cardiac arrest in Oslo].
BACKGROUND
An important factor determining survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is how fast the ambulance personnel can reach the patient.


METHODS
In a two-year period between 1996 and 1998, all ambulance calls to patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Oslo were evaluated. Of 1,026 cardiac arrests, 130 were excluded because of missing data.


RESULTS
The median ambulance response interval was 7.2 min (5.7-9.0 as 25-75% percentiles). There was a tendency to shorter response intervals to the central parts of Oslo with medians between 3 and 4 min, while 14 more peripheral boroughs had median response intervals over 8 min. Of the 627 cases where the ambulance starting point was registered, 76% were from the only ambulance station in Oslo, located downtown.


CONCLUSIONS
In our opinion, the median ambulance response interval is unsatisfactory in large parts of Oslo, as a long response time gives a dramatically lower survival rate after cardiac arrest. A reorganisation and decentralization of the Oslo Emergency Medical Service System seems necessary.
Sunde
K
K
Anestesiavdelingen, Kirurgisk divisjon Ullevål sykehus 0407 Oslo. kjetil.sunde@ioks.uio.no
Fremstad
K O
KO
Furuheim
J
J
Steen
P A
PA
D000552:Ambulances / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D019037:Urban Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data