Prehospital critical care teams less likely to attend cardiac arrest patients in deprived neighbourhoods, finds study

Prehospital critical care teams are less likely to attend cardiac arrest patients in more deprived neighbourhoods, according to a study led by Warwick Medical School.

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest requires a fast, high-quality response to save lives. Patients receive immediate emergency care from paramedics and some patients are also attended by prehospital critical care teams – mainly provided by air ambulance charities – who bring specialist skills and can improve patient outcomes.

This study, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), included 61,011 patients, of which 16,144 (26.5%) were attended by a prehospital critical care asset.

Dr Adam Boulton, principal investigator, says: "Our research found that cardiac arrest patients in more deprived areas, as well as women, were less likely to receive prehospital critical care. These disparities persisted after adjusting for clinical factors, which were the main drivers of prehospital critical care attendance.

"Future work should explore how the distribution of prehospital critical care assets contributes to these disparities and identify ways to optimise the system. Improving survival means not just refining clinical protocols, but also addressing the structural barriers that influence whether patients receive prehospital critical care.

"This work was made possible thank to NIHR funding and collaboration with Devon Air Ambulance, East Midlands Ambulance Service, South Western Ambulance Service, and West Midlands Ambulance Service. We are extremely grateful for their support."

The study has been published in Resuscitation.

You can find out more about the EPPiC (Emergency, Prehospital, Perioperative and Critical Care) research group based at Warwick Clinical Trials Unit here.