OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of different case and survival definitions of out-of-hospital @entity1167 on survival rate calculations. DESIGN: A 22-month case series of nontraumatic, out-of-hospital @entity1167 . SETTING: Southwestern city (population, 400,000; area, 390 km2) with a two-tiered emergency response system consisting of emergency medical technicians and paramedics. @entity1 : A consecutive sample of 372 @entity1 found without palpable pulse of spontaneous respiration. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Survival rate after @entity1167 was calculated using three case definitions of arrest and two definitions of survival. RESULTS: Twenty percent of all @entity1 survived to hospital admission and 6% survived to hospital discharge. Twenty-six percent of adults whose collapse was witnessed survived to hospital admission, and 10% survived to hospital discharge. @entity1 whose collapse was witnessed and who experienced initial @entity2224 survived to hospital admission in 38% and to hospital discharge in 15% of cases. CONCLUSIONS: The survival rate after out-of-hospital @entity1167 varies widely depending on the case and survival definitions selected. To facilitate intersystem comparison and assessment of interventions designed to improve outcome, the Utstein Consensus Conference recommended that case and survival definitions should be adopted by all prehospital emergency systems.

Case and survival definitions in out-of-hospital XXXX . Effect on survival rate calculation.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['Patients', 'patients', 'PATIENTS'] @entity2224 :: ('MESH:D014693', 'Disease') :: ['ventricular fibrillation'] @entity1167 :: ('MESH:D006323', 'Disease') :: ['cardiac arrest', 'cardiac arrests']
@entity1167 :: (MESH:D006323,Disease) :: ['cardiac arrest']
