Epidemiology of Cardiac Arrests in Airports: Four Years Results of the French National Cardiac Arrest Registry

Abstract

Aims: To describe and analyse cardiac arrests occurring in airports, all chain of survival steps and their survival including a neurological outcome assessment at day 30 and to compare these results between airports staffed with on-site medical teams and those without. Study Design: National multicentre cohort study on cardiac arrests occurring in airports. Subgroup comparative study between airports staffed with on-site medical teams and those without. Place and Duration of Study: All cardiac arrests occurring in French airports, extracted from the French national cardiac arrest registry, recorded between July 2011 and September 2015 (50 months). Methodology: 109 cardiac arrests occurring in 19 French airports were collected. The population characteristics were described by medians and interquartile ranges or frequencies. Comparison of variables between airports staffed with on-site mobile medical team and others were handled using chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests and the Mann-Whitney U test. Survival differences were also compared and explained using odds-ratio. Results: We recorded 71.4% immediate basic life support if cardiac arrest was witnessed (76.2%) and 52.4% automatic external defibrillator connexion by witnesses. First aid provider response was prompt and mobile medical teams provided an advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation to a large majority of patients (91.4%). More than 4 victims of cardiac arrests occurring in airports on 10 were alive at hospital admission. Among them, 17.7% (17) survived at day 30. No survival difference between subgroups. Conclusion: Cardiac arrests occurring in airports are rare events. The survival rates of cardiac arrests occurring in airports are superior to what we found in previous works and literature on general populations. These are related to the first steps of the chain of survival which are particularly strong in airports.