Registries to measure and improve outcomes after cardiac arrest

Cardiac arrest registries are used to measure and improve the process and outcome of resuscitation care, and can give insight into risk factors, prognosis, and the effectiveness of interventions to mitigate its impact. This review provides an overview of current out-of-hospital (OHCA) and in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) registries, with attention to key recent findings and future directions.

Major OHCA registries include the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium Cardiac Arrest Epistry and Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival. Registry data from IHCA largely stem from the US and Canada with Get with the Guidelines-Resuscitation, and the UK with the National Cardiac Arrest Audit. Each registry has strengths and limitations. Important findings include trends in survival, racial disparities in care, and hospital and community-level variations in performance, as well as estimates of the effectiveness of individual interventions. Utstein definitions facilitate uniform reporting of the process and outcome of care, and are currently being updated. Standardization of registry data is an ongoing challenge.

OHCA and IHCA registries are invaluable in advancing our understanding of resuscitation care, as well as variations in international practice. Investigations that compare and contrast outcomes from established and evolving registries will help advance resuscitation science further.