Intubation vs. Supraglottic Airway for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

While quality advanced life support can certainly be critical for patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, there is no robust evidence that early intubation improves outcomes, and many prehospital providers have moved to the use of supraglottic devices that are technically easier to place. These authors conducted a systematic review comparing outcomes for these two airway management methods.

A robust search strategy identified 10 observational studies that included approximately 35,000 patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest who received endotracheal intubation and 41,000 who received a supraglottic device. Intubated patients had significantly higher odds of return of spontaneous circulation (odds ratio, 1.28), survival to hospital…