Survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, Viet Nam: multicentre prospective cohort study

To investigate factors associated with survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Viet Nam.

We did a multicentre prospective observational study of people (> 18 years) presenting with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (not caused by trauma) to three tertiary hospitals in Viet Nam from February 2014 to December 2018. We collected data on characteristics, management and outcomes of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and compared these data by type of transportation to hospital and survival to hospital admission. We assessed factors associated with survival to admission to and discharge from hospital using logistic regression analysis.

Of 590 eligible people with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, 440 (74.6%) were male and the mean age was 56.1 years (standard deviation: 17.2). Only 24.2% (143/590) of these people survived to hospital admission and 14.1% (83/590) survived to hospital discharge. Most cardiac arrests (67.8%; 400/590) occurred at home, 79.4% (444/559) were witnessed by bystanders and 22.3% (124/555) were given cardiopulmonary resuscitation by a bystander. Only 8.6% (51/590) of the people were taken to hospital by the emergency medical services and 32.2% (49/152) received pre-hospital defibrillation. Pre-hospital defibrillation (odds ratio, OR: 3.90; 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.54-9.90) and return of spontaneous circulation in the emergency department (OR: 2.89; 95% CI: 1.03-8.12) were associated with survival to hospital admission. Hypothermia therapy during post-resuscitation care was associated with survival to discharge (OR: 5.44; 95% CI: 2.33-12.74).

Improvements are needed in the emergency medical services in Viet Nam such as increasing bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation and public access defibrillation, and improving ambulance and post-resuscitation care.