The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a surge of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that burdened first responders, a study published in JAMA Cardiology reports.
Researchers analyzed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest data from adults from March 1 through April 25, 2020, against the same period in 2019.
What you should know:
1. Researchers noted an increase in all cardiopulmonary arrests that presented in non-shockable cardiac rhythms during the height of the pandemic. In 2019, 1,336 patients with OHCA underwent EMS resuscitation, compared to 3,989 patients in 2020.
2. Researchers believe the pandemic is responsible because of the sharp increase in cardiac arrests from the same period in 2019.
3. EMS response times only increased by about a minute between the two time periods, and median response time was less than three minutes.
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