Cardiac Arrest Survival Rates

Figures from the London Ambulance Service have showed a 32.4% survival rate from cardiac arrest to discharge from hospital. These are the highest figures to date and are very impressive. The figures for bystander CPR prior to the arrival of trained ambulance personnel are also up from 51% to 55% which is encouraging. It is worth noting that these figures are based on the Utstein method of calculating survival rates. Utstein is an internationally recognised method of calculating out of hospital cardiac arrest survival based on a group of patients who have the best chance of survival. The calculation is based upon patients who had resuscitation attempted after having a cardiac arrest thought to be from a cardiac cause, witnessed by a bystander and who were in either ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia.Both of these are shockable rythmns  (i.e suitable for a shock from a defibrillator). The overall survival rate for cardiac arrest survival to discharge from hospital was (10.3%) which is still up 1% from 2013.