Table 1.
Prehospital characteristics of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) without arrest and out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) of cardiac origin transported by emergency medical service (EMS)
| AMI without arrest | OHCA with cardiac origin | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998–2007 | 2000–2007 | |||
| (n = 8,596) | (n = 9,283) | |||
| Patient age, years, mean (SD) | 67.4 | (13.0) | 71.7 | (14.7) |
| ≥65 years, n (%) | 5,156 | (60.0) | 6,661 | (71.8) |
| Men, n (%) | 6,025 | (70.1) | 5,597 | (60.3) |
| Witnessed status, n (%) | ||||
| Arrest not witnessed | — | — | 4,968 | (53.5) |
| Arrest witnessed by bystanders | — | — | 3,556 | (38.3) |
| Arrest witnessed by EMS | — | — | 759 | (8.2) |
| Location, n (%) | ||||
| Home | 5,982 | (69.6) | 6,440 | (69.4) |
| Public place | 1,230 | (14.3) | 969 | (10.4) |
| Work place | 231 | (2.7) | 807 | (8.7) |
| Healthcare facilitya | 378 | (4.4) | 227 | (2.4) |
| Other | 775 | (9.0) | 840 | (9.0) |
| Good ADL, n (%) | — | — | 6,313 | (68.0) |
| Bystander CPR, n (%) | — | — | 2,783 | (30.0) |
| VF, n (%) | — | — | 1,174 | (12.6) |
| Systolic blood pressure, mmHg, mean (SD) | 138.3 | (36.2) | — | — |
| Number of heartbeats per minute, mean (SD) | 82.5 | (26.2) | — | — |
| Season | ||||
| Spring and summer (April–September) | 4,023 | (46.8) | 3,832 | (41.3) |
| Autumn and winter (October–March) | 4,573 | (53.2) | 5,451 | (58.7) |
| Day of the week | ||||
| Weekday (Monday–Friday) | 6,168 | (71.8) | 6,709 | (72.3) |
| Weekend (Saturday–Sunday) | 2,428 | (28.2) | 2,574 | (27.7) |
| Time of day | ||||
| 9.00 am–5.00 pm | 3,271 | (38.1) | 3,364 | (36.2) |
| 5.00 pm–9.00 am | 5,325 | (61.9) | 5,919 | (63.8) |
| No. of phone calls to hospitals from ambulances, n (%) | ||||
| 1 | 7,222 | (84.0) | 6,480 | (69.8) |
| 2 | 863 | (10.0) | 1,637 | (17.6) |
| 3 | 277 | (3.2) | 583 | (6.3) |
| 4 | 117 | (1.4) | 278 | (3.0) |
| ≥5 | 117 | (1.4) | 300 | (3.2) |
| Unknown | 0 | (0.0) | 5 | (0.1) |
| Time interval from patient's call until CPR by EMS, min, mean (SD) | — | — | 8.6 | (3.9) |
| Time interval from patient's call until hospital arrival, min, mean (SD) | 24.2 | (9.0) | 25.7 | (7.3) |
a
Includes chronic care facilities and medical clinics. —, not applicable; ADL, activity of daily living; CPR, cardiopulmonary resuscitation; SD, standard deviation; VF, ventricular fibrillation.