Effect of Prehospital Epinephrine on Outcomes of Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Bayesian Network Approach

Figure 1

The directed acyclic graph (DAG) structure of the Bayesian network constructed using bootstrap model averaging. Arrow indicates the direction of influence and line thickness corresponds to the relative edge strength. Smart advance life support (SALS) was dependent on presumed etiology and bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) while epinephrine was dependent on SALS and initial rhythm. Prehospital return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) was dependent on initial rhythm, SALS, epinephrine, and presumed etiology. Neurologic recovery was dependent on prehospital ROSC, initial rhythm, epinephrine, and SALS. Advanced airway was dependent on SALS, epinephrine, and presumed etiology; however, it did not have any direct or indirect pathway leading to outcome variables. CARDIAC, presumed cardiac etiology; WITNESSED, witnessed cardiac arrest; PUBLIC, public location; BYST.CPR, bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation; SALS, Smart advance life support; EPI, epinephrine use; PREH.ROSC, prehospital return of spontaneous circulation; ADV.AIRWAY, advanced airway; NEUR.RECOVERY, neurologic recovery; EDA.TIME, emergency department arrival time.