Acute cardiac care & resuscitation
Features and circumstances of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests caught on camera: an analysis of publicly available online videos
Authors' conclusion
Publicly available videos of OHCA offer a rare view into the earliest moments of collapse, highlighting consistent recognition cues, frequent misinterpreted signs, and an action gap between recognition and intervention.
Study context
- Population
- Real-life out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) in publicly available online videos (YouTube, Google), 1984–2025127 videos
- Participants
- 145 participants
- Outcome
- Features and circumstances of OHCA in online videos (prodromal signs, post-collapse signs, bystander response)
Methodological detailsdescriptive analysis, systematic search of YouTube and Google
- Descriptive analysis
- Systematic search of YouTube and Google
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- Recordings from closed-circuit television cameras
- 51 %
- Male victims
- 87 %
- Age >40 years
- 53 %
- Prodromal signs visible
- 98 %
- Prodromal signs duration, median (IQR 2-5)
- 3 s
- Prodromal: slowing or pausing activity
- 49 %
- Prodromal: altered head/arm movements
- 32 %
- Prodromal: reaching for support
- 28 %
- Post-collapse signs, of assessable cases
- two-thirds
- Post-collapse: seizure-like movements
- 36 %
- Post-collapse: agonal breathing
- 22 %
- Bystanders noticed collapse, median (IQR 1-2)
- 1 second
- Bystanders approached victim, median (IQR 1-4)
- 2 seconds
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Original publication
Features and circumstances of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests caught on camera: an analysis of publicly available online videos. Resuscitation. Published 22 December 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →