Acute cardiac care & resuscitationResearch article
Community first-responders in cardiac arrest. Effect on survival? A comprehensive Danish study of 29,445 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests
- A manual review of prehospital medical records
- national
Authors' conclusion
In OHCA, basic life support initiated by bystanders was associated with a survival rate more than twice that of OHCA patients whose first resuscitation was provided by community first-responders or ambulance personnel. Our findings support early resuscitation, but we found no evidence to support dispatching community first-responders to OHCA.
Study context
- Population
- Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases in Denmark from 2018 through 2023patients analysed after exclusions, of 29,445 OHCA cases, in 505 cases the provider of the initial CPR was unclear · on-scene bystanders 12,613 · community first-responders 2,155 · emergency medical service (EMS) personnel 6,140
- Participants
- 21,413 cases
- Comparison
- Type of responder who initiated resuscitative efforts: bystanders present at the incident, community first-responders, or ambulance personnel
- on-scene bystandersn = 12,613
- community first-respondersn = 2,155
- emergency medical service (EMS) personneln = 6,140reference
- Outcome
- Survival
- Follow-up
- 30 days and 365 days
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Odds ratio
- 30-day survival
- 2.42
- 365-day survival
- 2.51
Original publication
Community first-responders in cardiac arrest. Effect on survival? A comprehensive Danish study of 29,445 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. Resuscitation. Published 5 March 2026. doi:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2026.111038
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it