Association between Weather-Related Factors and Cardiac Arrest of Presumed Cardiac Etiology: A Prospective Observational Study Based on Out-of-Hospital Care Data

AbstractObjective: The objective of this study was to determine the association between weather-related factors and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) of presumed cardiac etiology. Methods: This was a prospective observational study performed in a prehospital setting. Data from the Emergency Medical Service in Hamburg (Germany) and data from the local weather station were evaluated over a 5-year period. Weather data (temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind speed) were obtained every minute and matched with the associated rescue mission data. Lowess-Regression analysis was performed to assess the relationship between the above-mentioned weather-related factors and OHCA of presumed cardiac etiology. Additionally, varying measuring-ranges were defined for each weather-related factor in order to compare them with each other with regard to the probability of occurrence of OHCA. Results: During the observation period 1,558 OHCA with presumed cardiac etiology were registered (age: 67 ± 19 yrs; 62% male; hos...