Table 3.
| White | Black | Asian | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VF n=1895 | PEA n=590 | Asys n=1066 | VF n=203 | PEA n=92 | Asys n=145 | VF n=121 | PEA n=54 | Asys n=122 | |
| In the field: | |||||||||
| Shocks delivered for any VF‡ mean (SD) | 5.5 (5.0) | 1.3 (2.2) | 0.6 (1.7) | 5.2 (4.4) | 1.7 (2.3) | 0.7 (1.6) | 5.6 (5.1) | 1.3 (2.1) | 0.5 (1.7) |
| Drugs delivered§ % | |||||||||
| Epinephrine | 83 | 95 | 98 | 84 | 95 | 99 | 82 | 98 | 98 |
| Lidocaine | 78 | 32 | 14 | 73 | 35 | 18 | 80 | 28 | 10 |
| Bicarbonate | 70 | 82 | 75 | 74 | 85 | 80 | 71 | 92 | 77 |
| Atropine | 38 | 58 | 50 | 38 | 55 | 44 | 39 | 48 | 41 |
| Resuscitation duration min (SD) | |||||||||
| Died in field¶ | 47 (17) | 42 (15) | 31 (14) | 45 (17) | 43 (15) | 32 (15) | 50 (22) | 45 (12) | 30 (12) |
| Died in hospital | 51 (16) | 49 (15) | 50 (11) | 45 (8) | 49 (12) | 49 (13) | 50 (17) | 44 (14) | 44 (11) |
| Survived to hospital discharge | 43 (14) | 45 (14) | 59 (21) | 41 (13) | 40 (17) | 27 (−)** | 45 (12) | _†† | 53 (10) |
| Among patients with ventricular fibrillation, ethnic differences in postresuscitation care | |||||||||
| Acute care‡‡ | n=461 | n=58 | n=37 | ||||||
| Cardiac catheterisation | 210 (45.7) | 22 (37.9) | 13 (35.1) | ||||||
| Coronary angioplasty | 68 (14.8) | 1 (1.7) | 6 (16.2) | ||||||
| Subacute care§§ | n=441 | n=52 | n=35 | ||||||
| CABG | 44 (10.0) | 5 (9.6) | 2 (5.7) | ||||||
| ICD | 118 (26.8) | 17 (32.7) | 7 (20.0) | ||||||
| PPM | 7 (1.6) | 1 (1.9) | 1 (2.9) | ||||||
Data displayed as mean (SD) for shocks delivered and resuscitation duration, % for drugs delivered, n (%) for postresuscitation care.
Comparison of all different therapies among races was performed and none were statistically significant.
Missing data on 26 whites, five blacks and one Asian.
Missing data on 124 whites, five blacks and nine Asians. NB: for shocks and drugs delivered: variables were examined by presenting rhythm, and as expected, there were fewer shocks for those presenting in PEA or asystole compared with VF, lidocaine was given more commonly, and epinephrine, atropine and bicarbonate were given less commonly in VF compared with PEA and asystole.
Died in the field or in the emergency department.
No SD available since data available on one case only.
Zero cases survived to hospital discharge.
Data only collected on most VF survivors from 1988 to 1998, then broadened to include some non-survivors from 1999 to 2007, analysis performed only on available data.
Subacute care category is limited to VF survivors with missing data on 15%–20% of cases.
Asys, asystole; CABG, coronary artery bypass graft surgery; ICD, implanted cardioverter defibrillator; PEA, pulseless electrical activity; PPM, permanent pacemaker; VF, ventricular fibrillation.