Estimated survival gains from pulselessness-detection technologies in unwitnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Western Australia: a simulation study

In Australia, two-thirds of emergency medical service attended out-of-hospital cardiac arrests are unwitnessed, and survival is <5% in this group. With the recent incorporation of pulselessness-detection technologies into consumer wearable devices such as smartwatches, the potential exists to convert unwitnessed arrests into device-witnessed cases.

Citation:
Talikowska M, Majewski D, Ball S, Foo D, Belcher J, et al. Estimated survival gains from pulselessness-detection technologies in unwitnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Western Australia: a simulation study. Resuscitation. 2026.

Keywords:
Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest; Outcomes; Unwitnessed OHCA; Wearable devices

Abstract:
In Australia, two-thirds of emergency medical service attended out-of-hospital cardiac arrests are unwitnessed, and survival is <5% in this group. With the recent incorporation of pulselessness-detection technologies into consumer wearable devices such as smartwatches, the potential exists to convert unwitnessed arrests into device-witnessed cases.