Yoshio Tanaka

Background The impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) occurring in this setting remains unclear. Objective The objective of this study is to elucidate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prehospital characteristics and outcomes of OHCA occurring in the workplace. Methods This nationwide observational study in Japan was a retrospective analysis and included 16,364 non-emergency medical service witnessed and adult workplace OHCAs. The characteristics and outcomes of workplace OHCAs were compared between the pre-pandemic period (2016-2019) and the pandemic period (2020-2021). Furthermore, subgroup analyses were performed for workplace location (office vs. non-office) and infection burden region. Results During the pandemic period, no significant changes were observed in incidence, public access defibrillation (PAD) provision rates, one-month survival rates, or neurologically favorable survival rates. However, increases were observed for bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) (crude odds rate (cOR), 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.10, 1.02-1.16; P<0.001), particularly compression-only CPR. The multivariable analysis revealed that the impact of the pandemic was similarly seen in an increase in bystander CPR (adjusted OR, 95% CI: 1.14, 1.06-1.22; P<0.001). Furthermore, the monthly changes in only PAD were altered biennially (PAD: P=0.02, bystander CPR: P=0.52, one-month survival: P=0.26, and neurologically favorable one-month survival: P=0.48). Analysis restricted to high-infection burden regions revealed that only the PAD rate decreased (P=0.03). Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic had no impact on OHCA survival in workplaces and had a limited positive impact on bystander responses. This may be attributed to previous positive CPR training experiences and routine preparation for health crises.

Objective: To identify the factors associated with a neurologically favourable survival of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) occurring in toilets. Methods: We retrospectively compared neurologically favourable 1-month survival rates and survival-related factors for 330,849 non-emergency medical service-witnessed OHCAs that occurred in toilets with those that occurred elsewhere using a nationwide database. Results: Compared to outpatient or hospital admission, OHCA was more likely to be associated with toilets (crude odds ratio [cOR] [95% confidence interval [CI]]: 2.52 [2.48–2.57]). The neurologically favourable 1-month survival rate for OHCA occurring in toilets (1.8%) was significantly lower than that in other places (2.9%) (cOR [95% CI]: 0.60 [0.53–0.68]). Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) use were minimal in toilets. Neither bystander CPR (adjusted OR [95% CI]: 1.19 [0.91–1.75]) nor AED use (adjusted OR [95% CI]: 2.05 [0.65–6.41]) was associated with improved neurologically favourable 1-month survival in toilets. Conclusions: Despite the poor neurologically favourable survival rate of OHCA in toilets, the provision of bystander CPR and AED was not associated with survival. Potential contributing factors include low rates of bystander intervention and delayed patient detection. To address this issue, focusing particular attention on unwell patients who use the toilets is crucial, and preventive approaches should be promoted.