Table 2

Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients: a group with primary ventricular fibrillation/pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VF/VT) cardiac arrest and a group with asphyxial arrest

Primary VF/VT cardiac arrest (n = 141)

Asphyxial cardiac arrest (asystole and PEA) (n = 44)

P value

Age (years)

65.8 ± 13.8

48.8 ± 20.1

< 0.05^b

Gender (male/female)

82/59

27/17

0.83^c

Response time (min)^a

8.4 ± 5.7

8.9 ± 5.2

0.91^b

Witnessed arrest (yes/no)

68/73

19/25

0.78^c

Resuscitation by medical team (min)

28.3 ± 11.3

24.7 ± 13.4

0.76^b

ROSC (yes/no)

101/40

18/26

< 0.05^c

Discharged alive from ICU (yes/no)

38/103

7/37

< 0.05^c

Average number of PetCO₂ observations

12.3 ± 3.4 (range, 7–22)

13.4 ± 2.8 (range, 9–28)

0.74^b

ICU, intensive care unit; PEA, pulseless electrical activity; PetCO₂, partial pressure of end-tidal carbon dioxide; ROSC, return of spontaneous circulation. ^aTime elapsed between the received 112 call to the arrival of Emergency Medical Service professionals at the patient's side. ^bStudent t test. ^cChi-squared test.

Grmec et al. Critical Care 2003 7:R139   doi:10.1186/cc2369