Service factors and health status of survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

To determine how emergency service factors affect the health status of survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, 424 survivors were studied six months later. The principal research tool was the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP), a behaviorally-based instrument for measuring sickness-related dysfunction. Time to initiation of care and time to definitive care were significantly related to dysfunction. The critical time intervals can be influenced by the manner in which communities provide emergency care.