Mechanical Chest Compression Device for Out-Of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Nationwide Observational Study

There are few studies on the use of a mechanical chest compression (meCC) device during transport in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).

The aim of our study was to compare the performance of an meCC device with that of manual chest compression during transport after OHCA.

This study used data from the national cardiac arrest registry of patients with OHCA of presumed cardiac etiology. The primary exposure was the use of an meCC device by an Emergency Medical Services provider while transporting a patient to the emergency department. The primary endpoint was good cerebral performance category at discharge. We compared survival and neurologic outcomes between an meCC device group and a manual chest compression group. We also performed an interaction analysis to assess changes in study outcomes of meCC device use by the initial electrocardiogram (ECG) and transport time interval (TTI).

Among 30,021 adult patients after OHCA with presumed cardiac etiology, an meCC device was used in 2357 (7.6%). After adjustment for possible confounders, there were no significant differences with respect to good neurologic recovery in the outcomes of patients who were treated with an meCC device and those who received manual chest compression (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.43-1.02) and survival to discharge (AOR 0.83; 95% CI 0.64-1.06). In the interaction model, the AOR of the meCC device study outcome did not interact with the initial ECG and TTI.

The meCC device did not show better study outcomes than manual compression.