Sex Disparities in Prehospital Advanced Cardiac Life Support in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest in South Korea

Abstract

Objective

Sex disparities have been reported in the prehospital and in-hospital care among patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between sex and prehospital advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) interventions provided by emergency medical services (EMS).

Methods

This was a cross-sectional observational study using a nationwide OHCA registry in South Korea. The study included adult OHCAs with presumed cardiac etiology from January 2016 to December 2019. The main exposure was the sex of the victim, and the primary outcomes were prehospital ACLS interventions, including advanced airway management (AAM), intravenous access (IV), and epinephrine (EPI) administration. Multivariable logistic regression analysis accounted for age group, health insurance, comorbidities, place of arrest, urbanization level, witness status, bystander CPR and initial rhythm was performed to calculate adjusted odds ratios (AORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs).

Results

Among 71,154 eligible patients, females with OHCA received less prehospital ACLS interventions than males: risk difference, (95% CIs) −2.76 (-3.41;-2.11) for AAM, −6.03 (-6.79;-5.27) for IV, and −3.81 (-4.37;-3.25) for EPI. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, female sex was significantly associated with a lower probability of prehospital ACLS provision: AOR, (95% CIs) 0.87 (0.84-0.91) for AAM, 0.85 (0.82-0.88) for IV, and 0.81 (0.77-0.84) for EPI.

Conclusion

Compared to male patients, female patients were less likely to receive prehospital ACLS. This offers opportunities for EMS systems to reduce disparities and to improve compliance with OHCA resuscitation guidelines and outcomes through quality improvement and educational interventions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.