title: Emergency Medical System response to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Milan, Italy.
abstract: The objective of this study was to investigate how rapidly the Emergency Medical System provides life support to patients suffering out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Milan, Italy. The study population included 1426 consecutive participants with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest between January 2007 and October 2008. The mean age was 72.7 years. The incidence of ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation as the presenting rhythm was 12.7%. Eighty percent of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occurred at home and bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was in progress in 11.1% of all cases. The mean time interval from collapse-to-first shock was 18.67+/-5.37 min. The mean Emergency Medical System unit response time interval was 7.07+/-3.14 min; time elapsed from arrival-to-first CPR was 7.75+/-4.32 min. In conclusions, the dispatch to arrival and dispatch to CPR intervals are comparable with those reported in other large urban areas, but the time from arrival-to-first CPR was longer than recommended by current guidelines.
authors.affiliation: Unita' Coronarica, Ospedale Niguarda Ca' Granda, Milano, Italy. mnuccia@email.it
authors.forename: Nuccia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Morici
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Luca
authors.forename: Ersilia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lucenteforte
authors.forename: Liliane
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chatenoud
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fontana
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: La Vecchia
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sesana
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000379:methods; D004554:Electric Countershock; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D013997:Time Factors