Spatiotemporal analysis of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the City of Los Angeles, 2011–2019

Abstract

ObjectiveThe goal of this analysis is to spatiotemporally identify and categorize areas in a large urban city according to Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) rates and No Bystander CPR (NBCPR) risk levels. Study Area and ParticipantsThe study comprised all cardiac arrests within the administrative geographic boundary of the City of Los Angeles. The final sample included 15,904 cases that were geolocated within 985 census tracts. Main Outcomes and MeasuresThe primary outcome was stratification of census tracts into risk levels of OHCA and NBCPR by observed spatiotemporal patterns. ResultsOf 985 census tracts in the analytical sample, 182 census tracts (18.5%) were identified as having higher risk of OHCA and NBCPR. This assessment resulted in 129 census tracts in Tier 3 (moderate risk), 36 in Tier 2 (moderate-high risk), and 17 in Tier 1 (highest risk). Census tracts in Tiers 2 and 3 had higher amounts incident OHCA, while those in tier 1 had more OHCA events with NBCPR. These areas were largely contiguous and located in the Central and South areas of Los Angeles. ConclusionsUsing a novel three-tiered neighborhood risk classification tool, specific neighborhoods have been identified in the second largest city in the U.S. with consistently high or accelerating rates of OHCA and low bystander CPR. Further study of bystander response and community-based public health campaigns are needed in these communities.