Cardiac Arrest Registries

Cardiac arrest registries are structured databases that systematically record data about cardiac arrest events, typically out-of-hospital, across defined populations. Many countries now operate national or regional cardiac arrest registries to better understand why survival rates vary so widely, to identify the most effective treatments, and to help ambulance services and hospitals improve the quality of care. Together, they form the evidence backbone of modern resuscitation science.

Why Cardiac Arrest Registries Matter

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) outcomes vary enormously between countries and even between regions of the same country. Survival to hospital discharge ranges from under 5% in some systems to over 20% in others. Without robust data, it is impossible to know which components of the chain of survival make the difference, or how to replicate the performance of the highest-achieving systems elsewhere.

Registries solve this problem by collecting standardised data on every cardiac arrest event within a defined area — from the emergency call through to hospital discharge and, increasingly, survivorship outcomes. Most major registries follow the Utstein template, an internationally agreed reporting framework that allows meaningful comparison between systems. The result is a powerful tool for quality improvement, research, and policy.

UK and Ireland Cardiac Arrest Registries

OHCAO — Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Outcomes Project (UK)
The UK’s national OHCA registry, run by the Warwick Clinical Trials Unit and funded by the British Heart Foundation and Resuscitation Council UK. Covers all UK ambulance services and is the authoritative source of UK cardiac arrest data. See our dedicated OHCAO page for more detail.

OHCAR — Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Register (Ireland)
Ireland’s national OHCA register, maintained by the HSE National Ambulance Service in collaboration with the University of Galway. Established in 2012 and covers all OHCAs attended by emergency services in the Republic of Ireland.

European Cardiac Arrest Registries

EuReCa — European Registry of Cardiac Arrest
An initiative of the European Resuscitation Council, EuReCa aims to record and analyse cardiac arrest events across Europe using the Utstein framework. The EuReCa ONE, TWO, and THREE studies have involved up to 28 participating countries. See our European Cardiac Arrest Statistics page for a summary of findings.

RéAC — Registre électronique des Arrêts Cardiaques (France)
France’s national OHCA registry, launched in 2011, covering SMUR (pre-hospital emergency) services across the country.

Danish Cardiac Arrest Registry (DANCAS)
Denmark’s nationwide OHCA registry, established in 2001, which has underpinned much of the country’s world-leading progress in OHCA survival.

Swedish Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
One of the longest-running national registries in Europe, operating since 1990 and covering both out-of-hospital and in-hospital cardiac arrest.

Lombardia CARe (Italy) — a regional OHCA registry covering seven provinces of Italy’s Lombardy region, coordinated by the Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo in Pavia. Started in 2015 and is now the most comprehensive OHCA data source in Italy.

North American Cardiac Arrest Registries

CARES — Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (USA)
Established in 2004 through a CDC partnership with Emory University, CARES is the largest OHCA registry in the world. As of 2025 it covers around 56% of the US population through 37 state-based registries plus additional community sites, with over one million records captured to date. Participating agencies can benchmark their performance against local, state, and national averages.

CanROC — Canadian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium
Canada’s national cardiac arrest research and surveillance network, building on the legacy of the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (ROC) that ran from 2005 to 2015 across the US and Canada.

Asia-Pacific Cardiac Arrest Registries

Aus-ROC Epistry (Australia and New Zealand)
The Australasian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium Epidemiological Registry, established in 2012, now covers 100% of both countries. Fully Utstein-compliant.

PAROS — Pan-Asian Resuscitation Outcomes Study
A multi-national collaborative registry covering emergency medical services across Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, the UAE, and others. Coordinated from Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore.

All-Japan Utstein Registry — Japan’s nationwide OHCA registry, run by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA). It captures every EMS-treated OHCA in Japan and is one of the largest population-based cardiac arrest registries in the world.

KOHCAR — Korean OHCA Registry — South Korea’s nationwide OHCA registry, established in 2008 as a collaboration between the National Fire Agency and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Captures all EMS-assessed OHCA cases nationally.

Global Cardiac Arrest Registry Collaborations

ILCOR Research and Registries Committee
The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation coordinates comparative reporting across major national and regional registries. Its periodic reports bring together data from 15 to 18 registries worldwide to identify trends and variation in OHCA incidence, bystander CPR, and survival.

GOHCAR — Global OHCA Registry Collaborative
A recent initiative working towards better international coordination between OHCA registries, with the goal of standardising reporting and enabling global comparative analysis. GOHCAR brings together the leaders of the major national and regional registries.