Sensor Technologies to Detect Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Systematic Review of Diagnostic Test Performance

Aim: Cardiac arrest (CA) is the cessation of circulation to vital organs that can only be reversed with rapid and appropriate interventions. Sensor technologies for early detection and activation of the emergency medical system could enable rapid response to CA and increase the probability of survival. We conducted a systematic review to summarize the literature surrounding the performance of sensor technologies in detecting OHCA.

Methods: We searched the academic and grey literature using keywords related to cardiac arrest, sensor technologies, and recognition/detection. We included English articles published up until June 6, 2022, including investigations and patent filings that reported the sensitivity and specificity of sensor technologies to detect cardiac arrest on human or animal subjects. (Prospero# CRD42021267797).

Results: We screened 1666 articles and included four publications examining sensor technologies. One tested the performance of a physical sensor on human participants in simulated CA, one tested performance on audio recordings of patients in cardiac arrest, and two utilized a hybrid design for testing including human participants and ECG databases. Three of the devices were wearable and one was an audio detection algorithm utilizing household smart technologies. Real-world testing was limited in all studies. Sensitivity and specificity for the sensors ranged from 97.2 to 100% and 90.3 to 99.9%, respectively. All included studies had a medium/high risk of bias, with 2/4 having a high risk of bias.

Conclusions: Sensor technologies show promise for cardiac arrest detection. However, current evidence is sparse and of high risk of bias. Small sample sizes and databases with low external validity limit the generalizability of findings.