Abstract 11: Community Interventions To Improve Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest Survival: Targeting Public Housing Could Be A Solution

Abstract

Background: Identifying well-suited areas for community-targeted interventions to improve bystander interventions and OHCA survival, particularly in deprived communities, has been warranted by the AHA. Public housing projects are publicly subsidized, geographically well-defined, have local leadership, and residents typically have a high prevalence of OHCA predictors. To assess the potential reach of community interventions in public housing, we investigated the incidence of OHCA in public housing projects in Vienna (Austria) and Copenhagen (Denmark) and compared it with remaining residential areas. Methods: Non-EMS witnessed OHCAs occurring in residential areas in Vienna (2017-2021) and Copenhagen (2016-2020) were included from the Viennese and Danish Cardiac Arrest Registry, respectively. Population density and residential areas were obtained from Urban Atlas; public housing data from City of Vienna, and the Danish National Building Foundation. We compared OHCA/km 2 and OHCA/100,000 inhabitants between public housing projects and other residential areas using Poisson regression of rates. We calculated the proportion of OHCAs occurring within 100 meters of public housing projects. Results: In Vienna vs. Copenhagen, 32% (1,391/4,313) vs. 35% (817/2,335) of residential OHCAs occur in public housing areas. The relative ratio of OHCA/km 2 and OHCA/100,000 inhabitants is 3-fold and 1.5-fold higher in public housing than in other housing areas, respectively (Figure 1). Including the immediate surroundings, public housing covered 64.8% vs. 56.1% of all residential OHCAs in Vienna and Copenhagen. Conclusion: Public housing projects in Vienna and Copenhagen had a substantially higher incidence of OHCA than other residential areas covering 1/3 of all OHCAs in residential areas and ~60% when including nearby neighborhoods. Community initiatives targeting these areas may be an efficient strategy to improve bystander interventions and survival.