@article{ref1,
title="Ambulance response times and 30-day mortality: a Copenhagen (Denmark) registry study",
journal="European journal of emergency medicine",
year="2023",
author="Mills, Alexander Andrew Matthew and Mills, Elisabeth Helen Anna and Blomberg, Stig Nikolaj Fasmer and Christensen, Helle Collatz and Møller, Amalie Lykkemark and Gislason, Gunnar and Køber, Lars and Kragholm, Kristian Hay and Lippert, Freddy and Folke, Frederik and Andersen, Mikkel Porsborg and Torp-Pedersen, Christian",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="BACKGROUND AND IMPORTANCE: Ensuring prompt ambulance responses is complicated and costly. It is a general conception that short response times save lives, but the actual knowledge is limited. <br><br>OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between the response times of ambulances with lights and sirens and 30-day mortality. <br><br>DESIGN: A registry-based cohort study using data collected from 2014-2018. SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS: This study included 182 895 individuals who, during 2014-2018, were dispatched 266 265 ambulances in the Capital Region of Denmark. OUTCOME MEASURES AND ANALYSIS: The primary outcome was 30-day mortality. Subgroup analyses were performed on out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, ambulance response priority subtypes, and caller-reported symptoms of chest pain, dyspnoea, unconsciousness, and traffic accidents. The relation between variables and 30-day mortality was examined with logistic regression. <br><br>RESULTS: Unadjusted, short response times were associated with higher 30-day mortality rates across unadjusted response time quartiles (0-6.39 min: 9%; 6.40-8.60 min: 7.5%, 8.61-11.80 min: 6.6%, >11.80 min: 5.5%). This inverse relationship was consistent across subgroups, including chest pain, dyspnoea, unconsciousness, and response priority subtypes. For traffic accidents, no significant results were found. In the case of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, longer response times of up to 10 min correlated with increased 30-day mortality rates (0-6.39 min: 84.1%; 6.40-8.60 min: 86.7%, 8.61-11.8 min: 87.7%, >11.80 min: 85.5%). Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression analysis showed that age, sex, Charlson comorbidity score, and call-related symptoms were associated with 30-day mortality, but response time was not (OR: 1.00 (95% CI [0.99-1.00])). <br><br>CONCLUSION: Longer ambulance response times were not associated with increased mortality, except for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0969-9546",
doi="10.1097/MEJ.0000000000001094",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MEJ.0000000000001094"
}