Study designs of evaluations included in the review
All study designs, including controlled trials, case-control trials and case series, were eligible for inclusion.
Specific interventions included in the review
Studies of TCP were eligible for inclusion. Several types of TCP were used: Pace-Aid, Pacetronics Model NI-1, Trans-Pace, Zoll NTP, Quick-Pace and HeartAid 97. Emergency medical technicians performed the initial basic life support and all patients received standard advanced cardiac life support care. The latter included, as appropriate, external chest compressions, electrical defibrillation, tracheal intubation, intravenous fluids, intravenous adrenaline and atropine.
Participants included in the review
Studies of euthermic, non-traumatised adults with pre-hospital haemodynamically SB (64 participants) or BACA (1,221 participants) were eligible. Criteria defining SB and BACA were described.
Outcomes assessed in the review
No inclusion criteria relating to the outcome measures were reported. The primary end points described were in-hospital all-cause mortality and all-cause mortality at 6 months and 1 year. The secondary end points were survival to hospital admission, improvement in blood-pressure, neurological function and quality of life.
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
Two independent reviewers blinded to the source and author selected the studies. The weighted kappa statistic was calculated to assess the intra-observer agreement.