title: Pan-Asian Resuscitation Outcomes Study (PAROS): rationale, methodology, and implementation.
abstract: Disease-based registries can form the basis of comparative research to improve and inform policy for optimizing outcomes, for example, in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Such registries are often lacking in resource-limited countries and settings. Anecdotally, survival rates for OHCA in Asia are low compared to those in North America or Europe, and a regional registry is needed. The Pan-Asian Resuscitation Outcomes Study (PAROS) network of hospitals was established in 2009 as an international, multicenter, prospective registry of OHCA across the Asia-Pacific region, to date representing a population base of 89 million in nine countries. The network's goal is to provide benchmarking against established registries and to generate best practice protocols for Asian emergency medical services (EMS) systems, to impact community awareness of prehospital emergency care, and ultimately to improve OHCA survival. Data are collected from emergency dispatch, ambulance providers, emergency departments, and in-hospital collaborators using standard protocols. To date (March 2011), there are a total of 9,302 patients in the database. The authors expect to achieve a sample size of 13,500 cases over the next 2 years of data collection. The PAROS network is an example of a low-cost, self-funded model of an Asia-Pacific collaborative research network with potential for international comparisons to inform OHCA policies and practices. The model can be applied across similar resource-limited settings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore. marcus.ong.e.h@sgh.com.sg
authors.forename: Marcus Eng Hock
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ong
authors.forename: Sang Do
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Hideharu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Matthew Huei-Ming
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Pairoj
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Khruekarnchana
authors.forename: Nik
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hisamuddin
authors.forename: Ridvan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Atilla
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Middleton
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kajino
authors.forename: Benjamin Sieu-Hon
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Leong
authors.forename: Muhammad Naeem
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Khan
mesh_terms: D001208:Asia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016730:Program Development; D012042:Registries; D012151:Resuscitation / Q000592:standards*; D016019:Survival Analysis