Impact of a mobile coronary care unit on the sudden coronary mortality in a community.

A 6-month feasibility study on a mobile coronary care unit (MCCU) was implemented in an urban community provided with a WHO Acute Ischemic Heart Disease Register. MCCU was able to reach in time less than 5% of all cases of unexpected cardiac arrest in the community. For cases of myocardial infarction and cardiac arrest transported by MCCU, a pair-matched control series was obtained from a period of 2-8 months before the beginning of the MCCU activity. No difference was found in the first 28 days' mortality rate between MCCU and control groups. The operation of MCCU did not induce any reduction of the patient delay time in the community.