Outcomes following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the aeromedical retrieval population of the remote Top End of the Northern Territory, Australia.

Objective: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is an event with an extremely poor prognosis. There is limited literature on the outcomes for regional Australia, with none specifically addressing remote populations. We aimed to assess out-of-hospital cardiac arrest outcomes in the aeromedical retrieval population of the Top End Medical Retrieval Service.

Design: We retrospectively identified all cardiac arrests, deaths and patients who had cardiopulmonary resuscitation within the aeromedical retrieval database for a 5-year period from January 2012 to December 2016.

Setting: Retrieval patients across the Top End of the Northern Territory, Australia.

Participants: All patients within the cohort with a non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Main Outcome Measures: Data were collected on outcomes as per Utstein definitions, along with patient demographics, retrieval timings and interventions.

Results: Seventy-five patients suffering cardiac arrest were identified, with 58 having a non-traumatic arrest in an out-of-hospital setting. The median age of the cohort was 40 years, and 53% had an initial shockable rhythm. Return of spontaneous circulation was achieved in 55% and 43% survived to hospital. The survival to hospital discharge and 28 days were 31% and 29%, respectively.

Conclusions: Although the study has a small sample size and limitations on generalisability due to the restricted nature of the cohort selection, the results suggest a 28-day survival rate is potentially comparable to other regions of Australia and the rest of the world. Further research needs to be undertaken in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in remote regions to establish a true population-based cohort and ascertain where improvements can be made.