Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest due to Drowning in North America: Comparison of Patient Characteristics between Survival and Mortality Groups

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) due to drowning carries high morbidity and mortality. There are a few studies on drowning-related out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), in which patients are followed from the scene to hospital discharge. This study aims to compare patient characteristics between the survival group and mortality group of OHCA due to drowning. OHCA due to drowning cases were selected from the North America Termination of Resuscitation Association database between 2011 and 2015. The retrospective analysis of epidemiological characteristics and clinical features of all OHCA patients were performed. Of the 17,094 OHCA cases in the registry, 54 cases of OHCA due to drowning were included in this study. Among the 54 OHCAs due to drowning, 7 (13.0%) survived, while 47 (87.0%) died. Compared to the mortality group, the survival group had a higher bystander witness rate (57.1% versus 17.0%, p < 0.05), higher asystole rate (42.9% versus 78.7%, p < 0.05), and higher mild therapeutic hypothermia rate (28.6% versus 2.1%, p < 0.05). In addition, a large proportion of survivors were children (71.4%) and males (71.4%). Survival among OHCA's due to drowning was found to be improved with a higher bystander rate, higher asystole rate, and higher mild hypothermia rate. In addition, children and males comprised the majority of survivors.