Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest due to drowning: An Utstein Style report of 10 years of experience from St. Mary's Hospital

Abstract

Background Drowning is a unique form of cardiac arrest and is often preventable. “Utstein Style for Drowning” was published in 2003 by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) to improve the knowledge-base, to provide epidemiological stratification, to recommend appropriate treatments and to ultimately save lives. We report on the largest single-center study of the Utstein Style resuscitation for drowning. Methods All patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) due to drowning admitted to St. Mary's Hospital between 1998 and 2007 were included. Utstein Style variables and other time intervals not included in the Utstein Style guidelines were evaluated for their ability to predict survival. The primary end point of this study was survival to discharge. Results We enrolled 131 patients with OHCA due to drowning; 21 patients (16.03%) had survival to discharge and 9 patients (6.87%) were discharged with a good neurologic outcome, i.e., cerebral performance categories (CPC) of 1 or 2. For the Utstein Style variables witnessed, the duration of submersion and the time of first emergency medical systems (EMS) resuscitation attempt influenced survival. For other time intervals, the transportation time (i.e., time interval from witnessing of the drowning to EMS arrival at the hospital, or if events were not witnessed, the time interval from calling the EMS to EMS arrival at the hospital), the duration of advanced cardiovascular life support (ACLS) and the duration of total arrest time were associated with survival. Conclusions Our report is the largest single-center study of OHCA due to drowning reported according to the guidelines of the Utstein Style. Being witnessed, having a short duration of submersion, having early resuscitation by EMS, and rapid transportation are important for survival after drowning.