An out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) occurs when the heart stops maintaining its function to pump blood through the body in an out-of-hospital setting, typically due to cardiac arrhythmia. Our recent analysis of sex differences in OHCA incidence, treatment and survival in a large cohort of OHCA patients in the Netherlands demonstrated several important findings across various age groups [1]. ; This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under acronym ESCAPE-NET, registered under grant agreement No 733381, and the Netherlands CardioVascular Research Initiative, Dutch Heart Foundation, Dutch Federation of University Medical Centres, Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences - CVON2017-15 RESCUED and CVON2018-30 Predict2.
This editorial refers to 'Sudden cardiac death among persons with diabetes aged 1-49 years: a 10-year nationwide study of 14 294 deaths in Denmark', by T.H. Lynge et al., doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehz891. ; This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the acronym ESCAPE-NET, registered under grant agreement no. 733381, and the Netherlands CardioVascular Research Initiative, Dutch Heart Foundation, Dutch Federation of University Medical Centres, Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences – CVON2017-15 RESCUED
Cardiac arrest is the third leading cause of death in industrialised nations.1 To improve survival, science and research in cardiac arrest, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and post-resuscitation care are major goals and objectives of the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) with its mission " To preserve human life by making high quality resuscitation available to all" [www.erc.edu]. And according to the "Formula for Survival" in cardiac arrest: Survival = Science/Research Education Implementation.2 Therefore, science and research is the basis for success in CPR and for good survival of our patients.3,4 To further develop and improve research in this area, the ERC Research NET has been founded by 78 international members during the ERC congress "Resuscitation 2013" in Krakow.5 The ERC Research NET was established as an international, interdisciplinary and inter-professional group for clinical and experimental research in Europe and beyond.6 ; This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the acronym ESCAPE-NET, registered under grant agreement No. 733381, and the COST Action PARQ (grant agreement No CA19137) supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), from the Laerdal Foundation, from the Zoll foundation and from many further national, regional and local sources.
In: Bak , M A R , Veeken , R , Blom , M T , Tan , H L & Willems , D L 2021 , ' Health data research on sudden cardiac arrest : perspectives of survivors and their next-of-kin ' , BMC Medical Ethics , vol. 22 , no. 1 , 7 . https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-021-00576-9
Background: Consent for data research in acute and critical care is complex as patients become at least temporarily incapacitated or die. Existing guidelines and regulations in the European Union are of limited help and there is a lack of literature about the use of data from this vulnerable group. To aid the creation of a patient-centred framework for responsible data research in the acute setting, we explored views of patients and next-of-kin about the collection, storage, sharing and use of genetic and health-related data for observational research. Methods: We conducted qualitative interviews (n = 19) with Dutch sudden cardiac arrest survivors who donated clinical and socio-economic data and genetic samples to research. We also interviewed their next-of-kin. Topics were informed by ethics literature and we used scenario-sketches to aid discussion of complex issues. Results: Sudden cardiac arrest survivors displayed limited awareness of their involvement in health data research and of the content of their given consent. We found that preferences regarding disclosure of clinically actionable genetic findings could change over time. When data collection and use were limited to the medical realm, patients trusted researchers to handle data responsibly without concern for privacy or other risks. There was no consensus as to whether deferred consent should be explicitly asked from survivors. If consent is asked, this would ideally be done a few months after the event when cognitive capacities have been regained. Views were divided about the need to obtain proxy consent for research with deceased patients' data. However, there was general support for the disclosure of potentially relevant post-mortem genetic findings to relatives. Conclusions: Sudden cardiac arrest patients' donation of data for research was grounded in trust in medicine overall, blurring the boundary between research and care. Our findings also highlight questions about the acceptability of a one-time consent and about responsibilities of patients, researchers and ethics committees. Finally, further normative investigation is needed regarding the (continued) use of participants' data after death, which is of particular importance in this setting. Our findings are thought to be of relevance for other acute and life-threatening illnesses as well.
Background Consent for data research in acute and critical care is complex as patients become at least temporarily incapacitated or die. Existing guidelines and regulations in the European Union are of limited help and there is a lack of literature about the use of data from this vulnerable group. To aid the creation of a patient-centred framework for responsible data research in the acute setting, we explored views of patients and next-of-kin about the collection, storage, sharing and use of genetic and health-related data for observational research. Methods We conducted qualitative interviews (n = 19) with Dutch sudden cardiac arrest survivors who donated clinical and socio-economic data and genetic samples to research. We also interviewed their next-of-kin. Topics were informed by ethics literature and we used scenario-sketches to aid discussion of complex issues. Results Sudden cardiac arrest survivors displayed limited awareness of their involvement in health data research and of the content of their given consent. We found that preferences regarding disclosure of clinically actionable genetic findings could change over time. When data collection and use were limited to the medical realm, patients trusted researchers to handle data responsibly without concern for privacy or other risks. There was no consensus as to whether deferred consent should be explicitly asked from survivors. If consent is asked, this would ideally be done a few months after the event when cognitive capacities have been regained. Views were divided about the need to obtain proxy consent for research with deceased patients' data. However, there was general support for the disclosure of potentially relevant post-mortem genetic findings to relatives. Conclusions Sudden cardiac arrest patients' donation of data for research was grounded in trust in medicine overall, blurring the boundary between research and care. Our findings also highlight questions about the acceptability of a one-time consent and about responsibilities of patients, ...
BACKGROUND: Consent for data research in acute and critical care is complex as patients become at least temporarily incapacitated or die. Existing guidelines and regulations in the European Union are of limited help and there is a lack of literature about the use of data from this vulnerable group. To aid the creation of a patient-centred framework for responsible data research in the acute setting, we explored views of patients and next-of-kin about the collection, storage, sharing and use of genetic and health-related data for observational research. METHODS: We conducted qualitative interviews (n = 19) with Dutch sudden cardiac arrest survivors who donated clinical and socio-economic data and genetic samples to research. We also interviewed their next-of-kin. Topics were informed by ethics literature and we used scenario-sketches to aid discussion of complex issues. RESULTS: Sudden cardiac arrest survivors displayed limited awareness of their involvement in health data research and of the content of their given consent. We found that preferences regarding disclosure of clinically actionable genetic findings could change over time. When data collection and use were limited to the medical realm, patients trusted researchers to handle data responsibly without concern for privacy or other risks. There was no consensus as to whether deferred consent should be explicitly asked from survivors. If consent is asked, this would ideally be done a few months after the event when cognitive capacities have been regained. Views were divided about the need to obtain proxy consent for research with deceased patients' data. However, there was general support for the disclosure of potentially relevant post-mortem genetic findings to relatives. CONCLUSIONS: Sudden cardiac arrest patients' donation of data for research was grounded in trust in medicine overall, blurring the boundary between research and care. Our findings also highlight questions about the acceptability of a one-time consent and about responsibilities of ...
Background Insight into the occurrence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) within general populations may help to target prevention strategies. Case registries suggest that there may be substantial differences in emergency medical service (EMS)-attended OHCA incidence between men and women, but relative sex differences across ethnic groups and socioeconomic (SES) groups have not been studied. We investigated sex differences in OHCA incidence, overall and across these subgroups. Methods We performed a retrospective population-based cohort study, combining individual-level data on ethnicity and income (as SES measure) from Statistics Netherlands of all men and women aged ≥25 years living in one study region in the Netherlands on 01-01-2009 (n = 1,688,285) with prospectively collected EMS-attended OHCA cases (n = 5676) from the ARREST registry until 31-12-2015. We calculated age-standardised incidence rates of OHCA. Sex differences were assessed with Cox proportional hazards regression analyses, adjusted for age, ethnicity and income, in the overall population, and across ethnic and SES groups. Results The age-standardised incidence rate of OHCA was lower in women than in men (30.9 versus 87.3 per 100,000 person-years), corresponding with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.33 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.31–0.35). These sex differences in hazard for OHCA existed in all income quintiles (HR range: 0.30–0.35) and ethnic groups (HR range: 0.19–0.40), except among Moroccans (HR 0.89, 95% CI 0.51–1.57). Conclusion Women have a substantial, yet lower OHCA incidence rate than men. The magnitude of these sex differences did not vary across social strata. ; This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Acronym ESCAPE-NET (grant number 733381 ), and the COST Action PARQ (grant agreement number CA19137 ) supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) . The work of Renee Bolijn and Irene G.M. van Valkengoed was supported by the ZonMw Gender and ...
Aims: TheAmerican Diabetes Association, and the joint European Society of Cardiology and European Association for the Study of Diabetes guidelines recommend a resting ECG in people with type 2 diabetes with hypertension or suspected cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, knowledge on the prevalence of ECG abnormalities is incomplete. We aimed to analyse the prevalence of ECG abnormalities and their cross-sectional associations with cardiovascular risk factors in people with type 2 diabetes. Methods: We used data of the Diabetes Care System cohort obtained in 2018. ECG abnormalities were defined using the Minnesota Classification and categorised into types of abnormalities. The prevalence was calculated for the total population (n = 8068) and the subgroup of people without a history of CVD (n = 6494). Logistic regression models were used to asses cross-sectional associations. Results: Approximately one-third of the total population had minor (16.0%) or major (13.1%) ECG abnormalities. Of the participants without a CVD history, approximately one-quarter had minor (14.9%) ormajor (9.1%) ECG abnormalities, and for those with hypertension or very high CVD risk, the prevalencewas 27.5% and 39.6%, respectively. ECG abnormalities were significantly and consistently associated with established CVD risk factors. Conclusions: Resting ECG abnormalities are common in all people with type 2 diabetes (29.1%), including those without a history of CVD (24.0%), and their prevalence is related to traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as older age, male sex, hypertension, lower HDL cholesterol, higher BMI, and smoking behaviour. ; This article has been made possiblewith funding by the Dutch Heart Foundation grant CVON2017-15 RESCUED, the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under acronym ESCAPE-NET (registered under grant agreement No 733381) and Amsterdam University Medical Centers.
Background Defibrillation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is increasingly performed by using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). Therefore presence of a shockable rhythm is recurrently only documented by the AED. However, AED-information is rarely available to the treating physician. Purpose To determine (1) how often a shockable rhythm was recorded only in the AED; (2) if so, how often information that a shockable rhythm had been present reached the physician. Methods Data on OHCA patients with (presumed) cardiac cause with an AED connected in the years 2012–2014 (Study period 1) and 2016 (Study period 2) in the Amsterdam Resuscitation Study (ARREST) database were collected. We determined how often only the AED had defibrillated. In these patients, we retrospectively analyzed EMS run sheets and hospital discharge letters to determine if a shockable rhythm and/or AED use was correctly noted. In Study period 2, we prospectively contacted the physicians to study whether AED defibrillation was known. Results In Study period 1, of 2840 OHCA CPR attempts with (presumed) cardiac cause, 1521 (54%) patients had a shockable rhythm, with 356 patients (13%) receiving AED defibrillation only. Of these patients, 11 hospital discharge letters (4%) contained no information about a shockable rhythm. In Study period 2, 125/1128 patients (11%) received AED defibrillation only; of these, in two cases the shockable rhythm was unknown by the physician. Conclusion In 11–13% of OHCAs, a shockable rhythm is only seen on the AED-ECG. Adequate transfer to the physician of vital AED-information is essential but not always accomplished. ; The work was supported by an unconditional grant from LAERDAL Foundation. The ARREST database is maintained by an uncondi- tional grant of Stryker,Emergency Care, Redmond WA. P.C.H., M.T. B. and H.L.T. are supported through ESCAPE-NET, a project that has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 733381.
Introduction Cumulative disease burden may be associated with survival chances after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The relative contributions of cumulative disease burden on survival rates at the pre-hospital and in-hospital phases of post-resuscitation care are unknown. Methods The association between cumulative comorbidity burden as measured by the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and pre-hospital and in-hospital survival rates was studied using data (2010–2014) from a prospective OHCA registry in the Netherlands. The association between CCI and survival rate (overall survival [OHCA-hospital discharge], pre-hospital survival [OHCA-hospital admission] and in-hospital survival [hospital admission-hospital discharge]) was assessed using logistic regression analyses. The relative contributions of CCI on pre-hospital and in-hospital survival rates were determined using the Nagelkerke test. Results We included 2510 OHCA patients aged ≥18y. CCI was significantly associated with overall survival rate (OR 0.71; 95%CI 0.61−0.83; P < 0.01). CCI was not associated with pre-hospital survival rate (OR 0.96; 95%CI 0.76–1.23; P = 0.92) whereas high CCI was significantly associated with low in-hospital survival rate (OR 0.41; 95%CI 0.27−0.62; P = 0.01). The relative contributions of CCI on pre-hospital and in-hospital survival were 1.1% and 8.1%, respectively. Conclusion Pre-existing high comorbidity burden plays a modest role in reducing survival rate after OHCA, and only in the in-hospital phase. The present study offers data that may guide clinicians in discussing resuscitation options during advance care planning with patients with high comorbidity burden. This may be helpful in creating a patients' informed choice. ; This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under acronym ESCAPE-NET , registered under grant agreement No 733381, and the Netherlands CardioVascular Research Initiative , Dutch Heart Foundation , Dutch Federation of University Medical ...
Aims Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) mostly results from ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation (VT/VF), often triggered by acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Sulfonylurea (SU) antidiabetics can block myocardial ATP-regulated K+ channels (KATP channels), activated during AMI, thereby modulating action potential duration (APD). We studied whether SU drugs impact on OHCA risk, and whether these effects are related to APD changes. Methods We conducted a population-based case–control study in 219 VT/VF-documented OHCA cases with diabetes and 697 non-OHCA controls with diabetes. We studied the association of SU drugs (alone or in combination with metformin) with OHCA risk compared to metformin monotherapy, and of individual SU drugs compared to glimepiride, using multivariable logistic regression analysis. We studied the effects of these drugs on APD during simulated ischaemia using patch-clamp studies in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. Results Compared to metformin, use of SU drugs alone or in combination with metformin was associated with reduced OHCA risk (ORSUdrugs-alone 0.6 [95% CI 0.4–0.9], ORSUdrugs + metformin 0.6 [95% CI 0.4–0.9]). We found no differences in OHCA risk between SU drug users who suffered OHCA inside or outside the context of AMI. Reduction of OHCA risk compared to glimepiride was found with gliclazide (ORadj 0.5 [95% CI 0.3–0.9]), but not glibenclamide (ORadj 1.3 [95% CI 0.6–2.7]); for tolbutamide, the association with reduced OHCA risk just failed to reach statistical significance (ORadj 0.6 [95% CI 0.3–1.002]). Glibenclamide attenuated simulated ischaemia-induced APD shortening, while the other SU drugs had no effect. Conclusions SU drugs were associated with reduced OHCA risk compared to metformin monotherapy, with gliclazide having a lower risk than glimepiride. The differential effects of SU drugs are not explained by differential effects on APD. ; This work was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme ...
In: Empana , J-P , Lerner , I , Valentin , E , Folke , F , Boettiger , B , Gislason , G , Jonsson , M , Ringh , M , Beganton , F , Bougouin , W , Marijon , E , Blom , M , Tan , H & Jouven , X 2022 , ' Incidence of Sudden Cardiac Death in the European Union ' , Journal of the American College of Cardiology , vol. 79 , no. 18 , pp. 1818-1827 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2022.02.041
BACKGROUND Although sudden cardiac death (SCD) is recognized as a high-priority public health topic, reliable estimates of the incidence of SCD or, more broadly, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), in the population are scarce, especially in the European Union. OBJECTIVES The study objective was to determine the incidence of SCD and OHCA in the European Union. METHODS The study examined 4 large (ie, >2 million inhabitants) European population-based prospective registries collecting emergency medical services (EMS)-attended (ie, with attempted resuscitation) OHCA and SCD (OHCA without obvious extracardiac causes) for >5 consecutive years from January 2012 to December 2017 in the Paris region (France), the North Holland region (the Netherlands), the Stockholm region (Sweden), and in all of Denmark. RESULTS The average annual incidence of SCD in the 4 registries ranged from 36.8 per 100,000 (95% CI: 23.5-50.1 per 100,000) to 39.7 per 100,000 (95% CI: 32.6-46.8 per 100,000). When extrapolating to each European country and accounting for age and sex, this yields to 249,538 SCD cases per year (95% CI: 155,377-343,719 SCD cases per year). The average annual incidence of OHCA in the 4 registries ranged from 47.8 per 100,000 (95% CI: 21.2-74.4 per 100,000) to 57.9 per 100,000 (95% CI: 19.6-96.3 per 100,000), corresponding to 343,496 OHCA cases per year (95% CI: 216,472-464,922 OHCA cases per year) in the European Union. Incidence rates of SCD and OHCA increased with age and were systematically higher in men compared with women. CONCLUSIONS By combining data from 4 large, population-based registries with at least 5 years of data collection, this study provided an estimate of the incidence of SCD and OHCA in the European Union. (C) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier on behalf of the American College of Cardiology Foundation.
Aims Drugs that prolong the QT interval, either by design (cardiac QT-prolonging drugs: anti-arrhythmics) or as off-target effect (non-cardiac QT-prolonging drugs), may increase the risk of ventricular arrhythmias and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Risk mitigation measures were instituted, in particular, surrounding prescription of cardiac QT-prolonging drugs. We studied OHCA risk of both drug types in current clinical practice. Methods Using data from large population-based OHCA registries in the Netherlands and Denmark, we conducted two independent case–control studies. OHCA cases with presumed cardiac causes were matched on age/sex/index date with up to five non-OHCA controls. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) for the association of cardiac or non-cardiac QT-prolonging drugs with OHCA risk using conditional logistic regression analyses. Results We identified 2503 OHCA cases and 10 543 non-OHCA controls in the Netherlands, and 35 017 OHCA cases and 175 085 non-OHCA controls in Denmark. Compared to no use of QT-prolonging drugs, use of non-cardiac QT-prolonging drugs (Netherlands: cases: 3.0%, controls: 1.9%; Denmark: cases: 14.9%, controls: 7.5%) was associated with increased OHCA risk (Netherlands: OR 1.37 [95% CI: 1.03–1.81]; Denmark: OR 1.63 [95% CI: 1.57–1.70]). The association between cardiac QT-prolonging drugs (Netherlands: cases: 4.0%, controls: 2.5%; Denmark: cases: 2.1%, controls: 0.9%) and OHCA was weaker (Netherlands: OR 1.17 [95% CI: 0.92–1.50]; Denmark: OR 1.21 [95% CI: 1.09–1.33]), although users of cardiac QT-prolonging drugs had more medication use and comorbidities associated with OHCA risk than users of non-cardiac QT-prolonging drugs. Conclusion In clinical practice, cardiac QT-prolonging drugs confer lower OHCA risk than non-cardiac QT-prolonging drugs, although users of the former have higher a priori risk. This is likely due to risk mitigation measures surrounding prescription of cardiac QT-prolonging drugs. ; This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 ...
In: Empana , J P , Blom , M T , Bӧttiger , B W , Dagres , N , Dekker , J M , Gislason , G , Jouven , X , Meitinger , T , Ristagno , G , Schwartz , P J , Jonsson , M , Tfelt-Hansen , J , Truhlar , A , Tan , H L & on behalf of the ESCAPE-NET Investigators 2018 , ' Determinants of occurrence and survival after sudden cardiac arrest–A European perspective : The ESCAPE-NET project ' , Resuscitation , vol. 124 , pp. 7-13 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation.2017.12.011
Aims The ESCAPE-NET project ("European Sudden Cardiac Arrest network– towards Prevention, Education and New Effective Treatments") aims to study: (1) risk factors and mechanisms for the occurrence of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in the population, and (2) risk factors and treatment strategies for survival after SCA on a European scale. Methods This is an Horizon2020 funded program of the European Union, performed by a European public-private consortium of 16 partners across 10 EU countries. There are 11 deep-phenotyped SCA cohorts for the study of risk factors and treatment strategies for survival after SCA, and 5 deep-phenotyped observational prospective population cohorts for the study of risk factors for occurrence of SCA. Personalized risk scores for predicting SCA onset and for predicting survival after SCA will be derived and validated. Results The 11 clinical studies with SCA cases comprise 85,790 SCA cases; the 5 observational prospective population cohorts include 53,060 subjects. A total of 15,000 SCA samples will be genotyped for common and rare variants at the Helmholtz Zentrum München (Germany) using the Illumina Global Screening Array which contains > 770,000 SNPs, and after imputation, a database of an estimated > 9 million variants will be available for genome wide association studies. Standardization of risk factors definition and outcomes is ongoing. An Executive Committee has been created along with a Collaboration Policy document. Conclusion ESCAPE-NET will complement ongoing efforts on SCA outside Europe and within Europe including the EuReCa project.