Publication date: Oct 01, 2025
To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on favourable neurological outcome after out-of-cardiac arrest (OHCA) witnessed by emergency medical services (EMS) personnels in Japan. We conducted an interrupted time series analysis (ITSA) using a prospective, nationwide, population-based registry in Japan to assess 30-day favourable neurological outcome (Cerebral Performance Category 1 or 2), prehospital return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), and 30-day survival among adult patients with EMS-witnessed OHCA during the pre-pandemic (January 2016-March 2020) and pandemic (April 2020-December 2021) periods. Subgroup analyses were performed by stratifying regions based on state of emergency declaration status. A controlled ITSA was conducted to compare outcome trends between areas with and without significant COVID-19 spread. In total, 58,315 adult patients with EMS-witnessed OHCA were identified. Favourable neurological outcome significantly declined during the pandemic (relative risk [RR], 0. 80; 95 % CI, 0. 71-0. 91; p
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 pandemic |
| disease | MESH | out-of-hospital cardiac arrest |
| disease | MESH | cardiac arrest |
| disease | MESH | emergency |
| disease | MESH | Long Covid |