Epidemiology and Outcomes from Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest in Kuwait

Background. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survival remains low in most countries. Few studies examine OHCA outcomes out of the Middle East region. This is the first study to describe characteristics and outcomes of patients with OHCA treated by emergency medical services (EMS) in regions of Kuwait. Objectives. To describe characteristics and outcomes of adult patients affected with OHCA in regions of Kuwait. Methods. This was a retrospective observational study on all adult OHCA patients transported by EMS to regional emergency departments over a 10- month period (21 February-31 December 2017). Data were collected from various sources: national emergency medical services archived data, emergency department, intensive care unit, and cardiac care unit of two hospitals. Results. A total of 332 EMS-treated OHCA cases were reviewed, and 286 incidents with OHCA from cardiac aetiology were included in the study. Most were non-Kuwaiti (60.8%) males (67.1%) with mean age 61 (+-16) years. Most OHCA cases occurred at home (76%) but with low witness rate (11.5%). Bystander CPR rate was low (8.7%). ROSC was achieved in ten patients (3.5%), but only 1 (0.3%) patient survived to hospital discharge. Conclusion. OHCA survival rates in this region of Kuwait are low. Targeted measures such as creating cardiac registry, dispatcher-assisted CPR with ongoing training and quality improvement, and community-based CPR education program are needed to improve the survival rates of OHCA victims.