Outcomes for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest transported to emergency departments in Hanoi, Vietnam: A multi-centre observational study

Emerg Med Australas. 2021 Jun;33(3):541-546. doi: 10.1111/1742-6723.13750. Epub 2021 Mar 11.

Abstract

Objective: To describe the outcomes of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) transported to hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Methods: This was a multi-centre observational study of patients presenting with OHCA to one of five tertiary care hospital EDs in Hanoi from 2017 to 2019.

Results: We analysed data from 239 OHCA cases of which 70.7% were witnessed, and 8.4% received bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The emergency medical services (EMS) transported 20.5% of cases to hospital with the remaining being transported by private vehicle. No patients received external defibrillation before arriving to hospital. Return of spontaneous circulation in hospital was 33.1%, with 3.8% of patients survived to hospital discharge and only one patient (0.4%) discharged from hospital with a favourable neurological outcome.

Conclusions: In cases of OHCA in Hanoi, both the proportion of cases receiving bystander CPR and EMS transportation were small. Urgent investments in pre-hospital capacity, training and capabilities are required to improve outcomes for OHCA in Hanoi.

Keywords: Vietnam; cardiopulmonary resuscitation; emergency medical service; out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.