Epidemiology and outcomes of out of hospital cardiac arrest in Saudi Arabia: Findings from the Saudi Out of Hospital cardiac Arrest Registry (SOHAR)

Abdullah Alabdali; Abdulrhman Alghamdi; Meshary Binhotan; Abdullah Alshibani; Meshal Alharbi; Alanowd Alghaith; Mohammad Altuwaijri; Saad Albaiz; Omar Aldibasi; Mohammed Alwarhi; Noura Alquraishi; Nawfal Aljerian

doi:10.1016/j.resplu.2023.100516

Epidemiology and outcomes of out of hospital cardiac arrest in Saudi Arabia: Findings from the Saudi Out of Hospital cardiac Arrest Registry (SOHAR)

Resusc Plus. 2023 Nov 29:17:100516. doi: 10.1016/j.resplu.2023.100516. eCollection 2024 Mar.

Authors

Abdullah Alabdali^{1

2}, Abdulrhman Alghamdi^{1

2}, Meshary Binhotan^{1

2}, Abdullah Alshibani^{1

2}, Meshal Alharbi^{1

2}, Alanowd Alghaith^{1

2}, Mohammad Altuwaijri³, Saad Albaiz^{1

4}, Omar Aldibasi^{2

5}, Mohammed Alwarhi⁴, Noura Alquraishi⁴, Nawfal Aljerian^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Emergency Medical Services Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
² King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
³ Medial Affairs Department, Saudi Red Crescent Authority, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Emergency Medicine, King Abdulaziz Medical City Riyadh, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Medical Referral Center, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Aim: The Saudi Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Registry (SOHAR) is the first out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) registry in Saudi Arabia. This study aimed to describe the epidemiology and outcomes of OHCA in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: The SOHAR is a prospective data collection system. Data were collected monthly from defined regions, and registry measured variables were adopted from the Utstein recommendations.

Results: During the period from 01/01/2019 to 31/12/2022, 3671 patients were included in the registry. The mean age was 62 years, and 6.5% (240) of patients were under the age of 18 years. The most common cause of OHCA was medical 3439 (93.6%). A total of 641 (17.4%) and 129 (3.9%) had presumed cardiac and respiratory causes. Additionally, most OHCA in Saudi Arabia (3034, 82.6%) occurred at home. Prehospital Return Of Spontaneous Circulation (ROSC) was achieved in 275 (7.4%) cases, and 491 (13.3%) patients were pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. Survival to hospital discharge was achieved in 107 (2.9%) of the cases, and good neurological outcomes, defined as a Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) of 1-3, occurred in < 0.5% of patients.

Conclusion: The Saudi out-of-hospital ROSC was 7.4%. The survival to hospital discharge rate was 2.9%, and less than 1% of patients were discharged with good neurological outcomes. Further research and the continuation of registry data collection is highly recommended. Additionally, a national-level out-of-hospital cardiac arrest system is recommended to ensure the standardization of medical care provided to patients with OHCA.

Keywords: Ambulance; CPR; Cardiac arrest; Emergency Medical services; Epidemiology; Registry.