Short term survival after cardiopulmonary resuscitation in emergency departments of two hospitals in Tehran, Iran (2005)

Cardiac arrest is responsible for half of the death cases, which is preventable in rapid and effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). During the last years, a great amount of progress has occurred in this field, but there is still a lack of enough data for CPR. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the survival rate of patients undergoing CPR in two university hospitals in Tehran, Iran. In this retrospective analytical study, the survival rate of 178 patients undergoing CPR in the emergency department of two university hospitals (Taleghani and Shaheed Modarres) were assessed and compared during 2005. The related variables including the time delay for CPR, the time length for CPR and the outcome of CPR were analyzed. 24 hours after the cardiac arrest, 7 cases of 54 (13%) survived in Taleghani hospital and 33 of 124 (26.6%) survived in Shaheed Modarres hospital (P<0.05). This study showed that the rate of short term survival of patients after CPR is similar to other parts of country but lower than the other parts of the world.