Epidemiology of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Kanjiža municipality: EuReCa Serbia

Objective: To analyze epidemiology of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) managed by emergency medical service (EMS) in the territory of Kanjiža municipality. Methodology: Information for this research was taken from the unique registry of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, established by Resuscitation Council of Serbia through an online questionnaire. Head researcher entered the data after every OHCA managed by EMS team. SPSS program was used for statistical processing. Results: Through the observed period (October 1st, 2014 to December 31st , 2016) 22 cases of OHCA with initiated resuscitation measures were recorded. Gender distribution of OHCA shows the majority of male patients. The most common cause of OHCA was cardiovascular and the most common place of event was home of the patient. 17 patients suffered OHCA in front of a witness but only 4 times witness has started CPR before EMS arrived. Telephone assisted CPR was not used in any of the cases. Initially shockable rhythm, ventricular tachycardia without pulse or ventricular fibrillation (pulseless VT/ VF) was registered 4 times, and ROSC was achieved 2 times. None of the patients survived to be discharged from hospital. Conclusion: It is necessary to make a greater effort towards citizens' education and raising their awareness of the significance of starting the early basic life support measures, before EMS arrives. Another important task that is ahead of us is education of emergency dispatchers on providing telephone guided CPR, especially in cases of distant intervention locations, so that the EMS could literally buy time until arriving