These researchers retrospectively analysed data from the St John New Zealand out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) registry for 1,750 adults treated for an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest of presumed cardiac aetiology between 1 October 2013 and 31 October 2018. Significantly fewer older-aged patients (>65 years) compared with those aged 45–64 years and younger (15–44 years) were transported to hospitals with PCI capability (49.9% vs 59.7% and 52.1%; p<0.001). In a comparison of ethnicities, Pacific Peoples had the highest proportion transported to PCI-capable hospitals, followed by Europeans and Māori (86.2% vs 55.6% and 32.9%; p<0.001). Significantly fewer patients living in rural areas compared with those living in an urban location were transported to PCI-capable hospitals (34.7% vs 59.1%; p<0.001). Logistic regression analysis revealed significantly higher 30-day survival in patients conveyed directly to hospitals with PCI-capability compared with those taken to non-PCI-capable hospitals (adjusted OR 1.285; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.63; p=0.04).
