Abstract 247: Cardiac Arrest Management in Rural Prehospital Care

Abstract

Introduction: Rural prehospital care settings are underrepresented in the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) literature. We analyzed a nationwide database of emergency medical services (EMS) incidents in the US to describe treatment patterns and the odds of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) among rural OHCA patients. Methods: Using the 2018 National EMS Informational System dataset, we analyzed OHCA incidents where CPR provided by EMS was documented. We excluded incidents in which trauma was involved, patient age <18 years, transport was not by completed by an advanced life support unit, or response time >60 minutes. The primary outcome was ROSC during the EMS incident. Multivariable logistic regression was performed comparing rural, suburban, and urban settings while controlling for age and gender, incident location type, response time, CPR prior to EMS arrival, arrest witnessed by EMS, initial rhythm, epinephrine administration, mechanical CPR, and advanced airway used. Results: A total of 60,281 OHCA incidents were identified for inclusion, including 5,013 (8.6%) in rural settings. Rural OHCA patients achieved ROSC in 28.8% of cases, compared to 33.0% in urban or suburban settings (p<0.001). Neither age nor gender significantly differed between settings (Table 1). Rural OHCA incidents had greater response times (7.5 vs. 5.9 minutes, p<0.001) and were less likely to receive epinephrine (71.6% vs. 74.9%, p<0.001). Further, EMS were more likely to use mechanical CPR (29.8% vs. 28.1%, p=0.01) and less likely to provide an advanced airway (56.3% vs. 50.5%, p<0.001) for rural OHCA. On multivariable logistic regression, rural OHCA patients had lower odds of achieving ROSC than urban OHCA patients after controlling for other factors (0.80, 95%CI: 0.75-0.86). Conclusion: In this national sample of EMS-treated OHCA, rural patients were less likely to achieve ROSC than patients in urban or suburban settings.