Does transport time of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients matter? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Guillaume Geri; Joshua Gilgan; Wen Wu; Sandy Vijendira; Carolyn Ziegler; Ian R Drennan; Laurie Morrison; Steve Lin

doi:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2017.04.003

Does transport time of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients matter? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Resuscitation. 2017 Jun:115:96-101. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2017.04.003. Epub 2017 Apr 8.

Authors

Guillaume Geri¹, Joshua Gilgan², Wen Wu², Sandy Vijendira², Carolyn Ziegler³, Ian R Drennan⁴, Laurie Morrison⁵, Steve Lin⁶

Affiliations

¹ Rescu, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada. Electronic address: gerig@smh.ca.
² Rescu, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
³ Health Sciences Library, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ Rescu, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada; Institute of Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁵ Rescu, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada; Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁶ Rescu, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada; Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

PMID: 28395992
DOI: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2017.04.003

Abstract

Background: Despite increasing evidence for specialized cardiac arrest centers, the impact of transport time on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients' outcome remains unclear. We systematically reviewed the prognostic impact of transport time in OHCA patients.

Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science from inception to May 2016 for studies that had reported the relationship between transport time and outcome in OHCA patients. The primary outcome was survival at hospital discharge. The secondary outcomes included neurological outcome at hospital discharge and long-term outcome.

Results: From a total of 3454 titles retrieved from the literature search, 9 studies were included for final analysis. All nine studies (N=46,417) were retrospective observational studies. OHCA patients included were mostly male (61-76%), suffered a witnessed cardiac arrest in half of the cases, and had an initial shockable rhythm in one third of cases. The overall survival to hospital discharge for all cardiac rhythms was less than 6%. There was no evidence for a differential mortality risk in OHCA patients according to transport time (mean difference -0.05min [-0.86,0.76]; I² 25%; 4 studies, 2197 patients).

Conclusion: Paramedic transport time was not associated with survival to hospital discharge or with neurological outcome at hospital discharge in adult OHCA patients. Future studies are needed to prospectively evaluate the prognostic impact of transport time particularly in rural settings and pediatric population.

Keywords: Meta-analysis; Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest; Outcome; Survival; Systematic review; Transport time.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis
Review
Systematic Review

MeSH terms

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / mortality*
Emergency Medical Services*
Female
Humans
Male
Observational Studies as Topic
Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest / mortality*
Retrospective Studies
Risk Factors
Time Factors*
Transportation of Patients / statistics & numerical data*

Grants and funding

CIHR/Canada