Acute cardiac care & resuscitationResearch article
Temporal trends in incidence, characteristics and survival outcomes for asystolic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
- Temporal trends study
- multivariable logistic regression
Authors' conclusion
Survival and long-term outcomes for initial asystolic OHCA remain persistently poor despite increased bystander CPR and system-level improvements.
Study context
- Population
- OHCA patients aged ≥16 years with an initial asystolic arrest rhythm in Victoria, Australia, 2003–2022, excluding arrests witnessed by emergency medical services (EMS) personnelasystolic OHCA meeting eligibility criteria, 19,517 (25.9%) EMS-treated · EMS-treated 19,517
- Participants
- 75,262 patients
- Comparison
- the period 2018-22 compared to 2003-07
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Age-standardised incidence of EMS-attended cases · 2003 versus 2022
2003
84.1 cases per 100,000 population
2022
77.8
p for trend
0.201
Further findings
| Outcome | adjusted odds ratio (95% CI) | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Survival to hospital discharge (adjusted) · lower odds · After adjustment | 0.42 (0.23–0.75) | P = 0.004 | |
| 0.20.5125Adjusted odds ratio (log scale) |
Arrests in aged care facilities, traumatic aetiology, arrests in rural regions (EMS-treated) · over the study period
- all increased
- P for trend < 0.05
Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation rates
- increased
- 37.1-71.1%
- p for trend
- < 0.001
Bystander-witnessed arrests
- declined
- 42.8-35.2%
- p for trend
- < 0.001
Survival to hospital discharge
- decreased from
- 1.2%
- to
- 0.3%
- p for trend
- < 0.001
Prehospital ROSC
- decreased from
- 17.8%
- to
- 15.4%
- p for trend
- < 0.001
Favourable functional outcome (Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended ≥5) · 12-month
- rate among 12-month survivors completing telephone follow up
- 54.8%
- n = 42 of 55 eligible
Original publication
Temporal trends in incidence, characteristics and survival outcomes for asystolic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Resuscitation. Published 25 March 2026. doi:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2026.111074
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it