Positive trend in survival to hospital discharge after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a quantitative review of the literature.

Background: Seven editions of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and emergency cardiovascular care guidelines have been published with many changes, in particular, about CPR.

Objectives: The aim of our study was to evaluate the temporal trend of survival to hospital discharge after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) as a possible effect of guidelines changes.

Methods: We searched PubMed for observational studies on 'survival to hospital discharge after OHCA'.