T E Auble1, J J Menegazzi, P M Paris. 1. Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA, USA.
Abstract
STUDY OBJECTIVE: Although some studies demonstrate otherwise, we hypothesized that metaanalysis would demonstrate a reduction in the relative risk of mortality when basic life support (BLS) providers can defibrillate out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients. DESIGN: Metaanalysis of studies meeting the following criteria: single-tier or two-tier emergency medical service (EMS) system, survival to hospital discharge for patients in ventricular fibrillation, and manual and/or automatic external defibrillators. The alpha error rate was .05. RESULTS: Seven trials qualified for metaanalysis. Across all trials, the risk of mortality for BLS care with defibrillation versus that without was .915 (P = .0003). Separate subset analyses of single-tier and two-tier EMS systems demonstrated similar results. CONCLUSION: BLS defibrillation can reduce the relative risk of death for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims in ventricular fibrillation. Weaknesses in individual study designs and regional clustering limit the strength of this metaanalysis and conclusion.
STUDY OBJECTIVE: Although some studies demonstrate otherwise, we hypothesized that metaanalysis would demonstrate a reduction in the relative risk of mortality when basic life support (BLS) providers can defibrillate out-of-hospital cardiac arrestpatients. DESIGN: Metaanalysis of studies meeting the following criteria: single-tier or two-tier emergency medical service (EMS) system, survival to hospital discharge for patients in ventricular fibrillation, and manual and/or automatic external defibrillators. The alpha error rate was .05. RESULTS: Seven trials qualified for metaanalysis. Across all trials, the risk of mortality for BLS care with defibrillation versus that without was .915 (P = .0003). Separate subset analyses of single-tier and two-tier EMS systems demonstrated similar results. CONCLUSION: BLS defibrillation can reduce the relative risk of death for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims in ventricular fibrillation. Weaknesses in individual study designs and regional clustering limit the strength of this metaanalysis and conclusion.
Authors: Abdulrahman Almesned; Ahmad Almeman; Ali Mohammad Alakhtar; Abdulmajeed Abdulkarim AlAboudi; Ahmed Zabin Alotaibi; Yazeed Abdullah Al-Ghasham; Mohammed Saleh Aldamegh Journal: Int J Health Sci (Qassim) Date: 2014-04
Authors: Rudolph W Koster; Michael A Baubin; Leo L Bossaert; Antonio Caballero; Pascal Cassan; Maaret Castrén; Cristina Granja; Anthony J Handley; Koenraad G Monsieurs; Gavin D Perkins; Violetta Raffay; Claudio Sandroni Journal: Resuscitation Date: 2010-10 Impact factor: 5.262