Abstract
Purpose: This study measured return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) in relation to dispatch distance in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Methods: Of 2,347 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients transported by emergency medical technicians in J Province between January 1 and December 31, 2015, those under age 18, those with reserved resuscitation, and those with traumatic cardiac arrest, leaving 855 patients in the study sample. ROSC was compared between those with dispatch distance ${\leq}4km$ (short dispatch distance, 465 patients) and those with dispatch distance >4 km (long dispatch distance, 390 patients). Results: The mean was 2.17 km in the short dispatch group and 9.87 km in the long dispatch group (p=.000). Mean distance from was 6.49 km and 13.39 km in the two groups, respectively (p=.000). ROSC differed significantly between the short and long dispatch distance groups (7.1% for short dispatch distance, 3.6% for long dispatch distance, p=.025). The length of time from to cardiopulmonary resuscitation also differed significantly between the short and long dispatch distance groups (8.77 minutes and 14.63 minutes, respectively, p=.000). Conclusion: ROSC was lower in areas of long dispatch distance compared to those of short dispatch distance. We expect this was most likely due to differences in response time by age and dispatch distance to the scene of cardiac arrest. However, no significant differences were found between the groups in the factors affecting ROSC.