Factors associated with prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation attempts in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients presenting to the emergency department

Abstract Background There is high variability among clinicians’ decision of appropriate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) duration before deciding for termination of resuscitation. This study attempted to investigate factors associated with the decision to prolong resuscitation attempts in cardiac arrest patients treated in an emergencydepartment (ED). Methods A retrospective study that evaluated two years of mortality registry starting in 2015 was conducted in the ED of University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Adult out-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients treated in the ED were included. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was utilized for the exploration of factors associated with prolonged CPR attempts (> 30 min). Results The median CPR duration was 24 min (range 2–68 min). Four variables were independently associated with prolonged CPR attempts: younger age (OR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.95–0.99; p  Conclusion Patient-related and access-related factors were associated with prolonged CPR attempts among OHCA patients resuscitated in the ED.