Introduction:
The relationship between the “chain of survival” metrics of Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) and survival rates in rural settings has not been fully examined. In previous studies, low survival rate was attributable to the modifiable prehospital metrics and Return Of Spontaneous Circulation (ROSC). We sought to examine the association of the modifiable and non-modifiable OHCA characteristics and patient outcomes with rural settings.
Methods:
We did a post-hoc analyses of data from the British Columbia cardiac arrest registry, which enrolled all emergency medical system (EMS)-treated OHCAs. All non-EMS-witnessed OHCAs on Vancouver Island from Jan. 2019 to Oct. 2020 were included. The independent variable of interest was rural versus urban settings. Rural areas were defined as all areas outside the urban clusters (population ≥ 1000 and a population density of ≥ 400/km2). Our outcomes were 1. Post resuscitation ROSC, and 2. Survival to hospital discharge. We reported gender-mediated measures and adjusted odds ratios using logistic regression models.
Results:
We included 1172 OHCA patients, with 23% in rural settings, 33% Female, 30% had ROSC, and 23% survived to hospital discharge. The median EMS response time, from 911-call to first EMS arrival, was prolonged [10.5 mins (IQR 7.5-15)] in rural settings compared to urban settings [6.5 mins (IQR 5-9)]
(p value<.001)
. Among females, rural settings were associated with higher odds of bystander CPR compared to males [(OR 1.86; 95% CI 1.04-3.35), (OR 1.42; 95% CI 0.95-2.13)], respectively. After adjusting for all covariates, rural settings were associated with lower odds of ROSC among males compared to females [(OR 0.53; 95% CI 0.31-0.90), (OR 0.70; 95% CI 0.34-1.41)], respectively; however, not associated with survival to hospital discharge.
Conclusions:
There are significant disparities in the modifiable prehospital OHCA characteristics, and post resuscitation ROSC between rural and urban Vancouver Island. An officially integrated rural CPR community-based program, and innovations focused on gender-based implementation may significantly improve OHCA survival rates and subsequent prognostication.
