Objective: This study reports improvements in survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in London over a five year period from 2007 to 2012 and explores the potential reasons for the very striking increases observed.
Methods: Data from the London Ambulance Service's cardiac arrest registry from 2007 to 2012 were analysed retrospectively for all patients who met the Utstein comparator group criteria (an arrest of a presumed cardiac cause that was bystander witnessed with an initial rhythm of VF/VT).
Results: We observed an increase in survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the five year period, with incremental improvements each year from 12% to 32% for the Utstein comparator group of patients.
Conclusion: We suggest that a range of important changes made to pre-hospital cardiac care in London over the last five years have contributed to the observed increase in survival over the study period. In addition we advocate a range of further initiatives to continue improving survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Keywords: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest; Survival; Utstein.
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