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Cardiac arrest
Reversible causes: ED vs out-of-hospital arrest
Distribution of clinically identified reversible causes in emergency department and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a retrospective cohort study
Resuscitation Plus · Added 28 August 2026
Retrospective cohort study comparing reversible causes in ED vs. out-of-hospital cardiac arrest — hypoxia was the most common cause overall but occurred less frequently in ED arrests (46.6% vs 57.2%), while hypovolemia (33.1% vs 23.2%) and cardiac tamponade (2.9% vs 0.6%) were significantly more common in ED.
- Study type
- Cohort
- Design
- Retrospective cohort, single tertiary ED, 2018-2024
- Participants
- 910 adults in cardiac arrest (275 ED, 635 OHCA)
- Main finding
- Hypoxia less frequent in ED arrest (46.6% vs 57.2%; aOR 0.61), hypovolaemia (33.1% vs 23.2%; aOR 1.80) and tamponade (2.9% vs 0.6%; aOR 5.14) more frequent in ED arrest
- Caveat
- Single centre; clinically identified/suspected causes, not definitive aetiologies
- Bottom line
- Context only
Why it matters in Australia (High relevance). Directly applicable to cardiac arrest resuscitation (CMG 4) — reinforces the 5Hs and 5Ts framework and shows ED arrests have a different cause profile that may inform transport decisions and pre-arrival preparation.
Learning goal
Update my approach to identifying reversible causes during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest resuscitation.
More
- Topic: Cardiac arrest
- Daily scan: 28 August 2026
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