[Long-term Survivorship after Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest in the Republic of Korea].

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to examine the demographic characteristics, chronic disease prevalence, and cardiac arrest-related factors of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in the Republic of Korea (ROK), and to estimate their long-term survival rates.

METHODS

We analyzed linkage data from the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Survey (SCAS) with National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) claims data. The study population comprised patients whose data were successfully linked between SCAS and NHIS from 2011 to 2021. The demographic characteristics, prevalence of chronic diseases, and cardiac arrest-related characteristics of these patients were analyzed. The 30-day, 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year survival rates of the linked patients were calculated for each year.

RESULTS

Among the patients with OHCA who had completed investigations during the study period, 95.3% were successfully linked to the NHIS database. The number of linked patients with OHCA increased over time, with an increasing proportion of patients aged ≥60 years. Patients with OHCA had a high prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, chronic pulmonary disease, and heart failure. The standardized 1-year survival rate increased from 3.5% in 2011 to 6.7% in 2019, followed by a slight decline to 6.3% in 2021 after the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The 3-year and 5-year survival rates also increased over time.

CONCLUSIONS

The number of long-term survivors and survival rates of patients with sudden cardiac arrest in ROK continue to increase, and there is a systematic need for continued care and support for these patients.