People in deprived areas of Hampshire less likely to survive heart attacks, says study
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People living in Hampshire’s most deprived areas may be less likely to survive a cardiac arrest, according to new research.
A study led by the University of Southampton analysed ambulance data from more than 4,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) in the region.
The results, published in Resuscitation Plus , found that people living in deprived communities were less likely to survive for 30 days after an OHCA.
The ambulance service in England attends more than 84,000 cases a year, with only around one in ten people surviving and leaving hospital.
Study co-author Dr Sandy (Alexander) Jackson , from the University of Southampton, said: “Once we accounted for other factors that might affect survival it became clear that deprivation does appear to be related to reduced survival.
“We suspect it may be true across other parts of the UK. We hope this work will prompt more widespread study of the issue including how we might improve outcomes for our most deprived communities.”
The research was carried out in collaboration with University Hospital Southampton (UHS), South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Southampton Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).
Experts examined 30-day survival rates after OHCA between 2019 and 2023 using ambulance service data.
This was linked with national measurements of deprivation based on patients’ home postcodes, while some people were excluded from the analysis if their cardiac arrest was caused by trauma.
Of the 4,184 patients included in the study, 437 (ten per cent) survived for at least 30 days.
The scientists adjusted for factors such as age, sex, the initial heart rhythm and ambulance response times, and their analysis revealed a significant association between neighbourhood deprivation and survival.
Co-lead Dr James Plumb , a Consultant Anaesthetist at UHS and honorary senior lecturer at the University, is Head of Research at HIOWAA and part of the NIHR Southampton BRC.
He said: “Across all areas of healthcare, we see differences in how patients do based on their background.
“We fairly consistently see that our most deprived communities experience worse health outcomes. This hasn’t been studied as widely in OHCA as some other areas of medicine.
“We wanted to understand how deprivation affects survival in after OHCA in Hampshire, with the hope that we could then move towards programmes to help reverse any inequality.”
According to the findings, survivors were on average significantly younger than those who died.
Those who survived had an average age of 62, while the average age of those who died was 71.
The data also showed that OHCA patients in deprived areas tended to be younger than those in less deprived areas.
Researchers suggest that while younger age is linked to better survival outcomes, it may mask overall health status.
Specialist Paramedic at HIOWAA Peter Owen, who co-authored the research, added: “Before we accounted for other factors, we didn’t see a big difference in survival between different levels of deprivation.
“But once we took age into account it became clear that the outcomes, for similarly aged patients, were worse in deprived populations.
“It’s hard to be certain about what is driving this. It’s possible that these patients have more health problems than similarly aged patients from less deprived areas, and that is supported by research from other areas of healthcare.”