Acute cardiac care & resuscitation
Impact of language barrier during emergency call on out of hospital cardiac arrest treatment and outcomes
Authors' conclusion
Language barrier challenged early CPR and defibrillation but was not associated with differential EMS or hospital care, highlighting the potential for systems to effectively care for OHCA regardless of 9-1-1 language barrier.
Study context
- Population
- Adult Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) in King County, Washington between 2014–2023eligible OHCA, 204 (3%) involved a language barrier
- Participants
- 6,146 participants
- Exposure
- Links in the chain of survival and clinical outcomes according to language barrier
- Language barriern = 204
- Outcome
- Chain of survival: OHCA recognition, assisted bystander CPR, bystander CPR, early AED application
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Bystander CPR
Early AED application
min
| Outcome | Language barrier | No language barrier |
|---|---|---|
| OHCA recognition | 2.0 | 1.0 |
| Time to assisted bystander CPR | 2.2 | 1.1 |
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
EMS and hospital care
Field intubation
Epinephrine administration
post-OHCA coronary angiogram
Targeted temperature management
Hospital admission and survival to discharge
Hospital admission
Survival to discharge
- EMS and hospital care: p > 0.19 for all
- Hospital admission and survival to discharge: p > 0.1 for all
Original publication
Impact of language barrier during emergency call on out of hospital cardiac arrest treatment and outcomes. Resuscitation. Published 11 June 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →