There is a substantial mortality rate in patients admitted alive after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The primary objective of our study was to examine trends in in-hospital survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors in Canada between 1994 and 2004. The secondary objective was to examine predictors of in-hospital survival in these patients.

Data on hospital admissions from April 1, 1994, to March 31, 2004, were obtained from the Health Person-oriented Information Database, maintained by Statistics Canada. We included all patients with a primary diagnosis of cardiac arrest who survived to hospital admission. We assessed survival to hospital discharge in all patients admitted alive.

In Canada, 13,263 patients survived community arrest between 1994 and 2004. The annual incidence of hospital admission after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest decreased by 33%, from 5.37 per 100,000 in 1994 to 3.63 per 100,000 in 2004 (P < .0001 for trend). Subsequently, 5,045 patients (38.03%) survived to hospital discharge. The survival rate did not change during the duration of the study. Invasive coronary artery disease management was associated with a greatly increased chance of survival (odds ratio 21.98, 95% CI 17.62-27.42). Also male gender, heart failure, and acute myocardial ischemia were independent positive predictors of survival to hospital discharge; greater age and comorbidities were negative predictors of survival. Finally, there were significant interprovincial variations in survival rates.

Our study, the largest of its kind, has 4 main findings. Firstly, between 1993 and 2004, there was a significant and steady decline in admission rates after community cardiac arrest. Second, there was no change in the in-hospital survival rates. Thirdly, invasive management of coronary artery disease was associated with a greatly improved chance of survival, and finally, there were important regional variations in survival rates.