Cardiac arrest patients in the emergency department—National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 2001–2007

Aim of the studyFew studies have focused on the full complement of cardiac arrest cases seen in hospital emergency departments (ED). The aims of our study were to describe cardiac arrest visits in the ED by using a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults.MethodsED data from the 2001–2007 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) were analyzed. Cardiac arrest visits were considered to be those with an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) code of 427.5 as the primary diagnosis.Results and conclusionsFrom 2001 to 2007, adults in the U.S. made an estimated 600,729,000 ED visits. Of those, 1,001,000 (0.17%) had a primary diagnosis of cardiac arrest. The majority of patients with such visits were dead on arrival or died in the ED (74.0%). The mean age for cardiac arrest visits was 66.7 years (95% confidence interval [CI], 64.6–68.8 years). Women had a lower rate of cardiac arrest visits than men (age-adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 0.6; 95% CI, 0.5–0.8), and the privately insured (AOR, 0.4; 95% CI, 0.2–0.7) and those with government insurance (AOR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3–0.9) had a lower proportion of cardiac arrest ED visits than uninsured persons. In addition, increasing age was a significant predictor of cardiac arrest visits. Cardiac arrest visits did not vary significantly by race, geographic region, or metropolitan statistical area. ED visits classified as cardiac arrest represent 1 in 600 visits and these visits differ by age, sex, payment source, and arrival time at the ED.