The ReCaPTa study - a prospective out of hospital cardiac arrest registry including multiple sources of surveillance for the study of sudden cardiac death in the Mediterranean area

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of death in the industrialized world. Sudden cardiac death is very often the first manifestation of the disease and it occurs in the prehospital setting. The determination of the sudden cardiac death phenotype is challenging. It requires prospective studies in the community including multiple sources of case ascertainment that help to identify the cause and circumstances of death. The aim of the Clinical and Pathological Registry of Tarragona (ReCaPTa) is to study incidence and etiology of Sudden Cardiac Death in the Tarragona region (Catalonia, Spain). METHODS: ReCaPTa is a population-based registry of OHCA using multiple sources of surveillance. The population base is 511,662. This registry is compiled chronologically in a relational database and it prospectively contains data on all the OHCA attended by the EMS from April 2014 to April 2017. ReCaPTa collects data after each emergency medical assistance using an online application including variables of the onset of symptoms. A quality control is performed and it permits monitoring the percentage of cases included by the emergency crew. Simultaneously, data from the medico-legal autopsies is taken from the Pathology Center of the area. All the examination findings following a specific protocol for the sudden death study are entered into the ReCaPTa database by one trained person. Survivors admitted to hospital are followed up and their clinical variables are collected in each hospital. The primary care researchers analyze the digital clinical records in order to obtain medical background. All the available data will be reviewed after an adjudication process with the aim of identifying all cases of sudden cardiac death. DISCUSSION: There is a lack of population-based registries including multiple source of surveillance in the Mediterranean area. The ReCaPTa study could provide valuable information to prevent sudden cardiac death and develop new strategies to improve its survival.