Pan-Asian Resuscitation Outcomes Study (PAROS): rationale, methodology, and implementation.

Area of Science:

• Emergency medicine
• Public health research
• International health collaborations

Background:

• Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survival rates are notably lower in Asia compared to North America and Europe.
• Resource-limited countries and settings often lack robust disease-specific registries for comparative research.
• There is a critical need for a regional registry to address OHCA outcomes in the Asia-Pacific region.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish the Pan-Asian Resuscitation Outcomes Study (PAROS) network, an international, multicenter, prospective registry for OHCA.
• To benchmark Asian OHCA data against established international registries.
• To develop best practice protocols for Asian emergency medical services (EMS) systems to improve OHCA survival.

Main Methods:

• Established a prospective, multicenter registry across nine countries in the Asia-Pacific region, covering a population of 89 million.
• Collected data from emergency dispatch, ambulance providers, emergency departments, and in-hospital collaborators using standardized protocols.
• As of March 2011, the database contained 9,302 patients, with plans to reach 13,500 cases within two years.

Main Results:

• The PAROS network represents a significant collaborative effort in OHCA research across the Asia-Pacific region.
• The registry provides a foundation for comparative analysis and the development of region-specific interventions.
• The network demonstrates a feasible low-cost, self-funded model for international research collaboration in resource-limited settings.

Conclusions:

• The PAROS network is a vital initiative for understanding and improving out-of-hospital cardiac arrest outcomes in Asia.
• This collaborative model offers potential for international comparisons and informs OHCA policies and practices.
• The PAROS registry serves as a replicable model for similar resource-limited regions globally.