Abstract 208: Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrests in High-Rise Buildings: Delays to Patient Care and Survival

Background: In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people living in high-rise buildings. This increase in vertical living presents unique barriers and response delays for emergency medical services (EMS) responding to out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA). Previous research has shown significant delays to general patient care, however, no studies have examined the delay to patient resuscitation in OHCA, and the impact this delay has on survival. Objective: To examine the relationship between the floor of patient contact (<3 floors vs. ≥3 floors) and survival from OHCA in private residences. Methods: A retrospective, observational cohort study using data from the Toronto Regional RescuNet Epistry database between January 2007 and December 2012. All adult (≥18 years) OHCA patients of presumed cardiac etiology treated by EMS in private residences were included. We excluded cardiac arrests witnessed by EMS and of non-cardiac etiology. Bivariate analyses were used to examine the ...