NCT04660526

RACE-CARS - RAndomized Cluster Evaluation of Cardiac ARrest Systems

ENROLLING BY INVITATION NA Last updated 30 April 2025

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Rapid cardiac arrest recognition that triggers immediate priority EMS/first responder dispatch by 911 operators in Cardiac Arrest in 20,000 participants. Enrolling by invitation.

Timeline

1 July 2022

Primary endpoint
30 June 2027

30 June 2027

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Duke University
Phase	NA
Status	ENROLLING BY INVITATION
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	none
Primary purpose	health services research
Enrollment	20,000
Start date	1 July 2022
Primary completion	30 June 2027
Estimated completion	30 June 2027
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• Rapid cardiac arrest recognition that triggers immediate priority EMS/first responder dispatch by 911 operators
• Systematic bystander resuscitation instruction by 911 operators
• Comprehensive community training of lay people in CPR and AED use.
• Optimized first responder performance including earlier use of AEDs.

Conditions studied

• Cardiac Arrest — all drugs for Cardiac Arrest →

Sponsor

Duke University

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Cardiac Arrest. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

RACE-CARS is a real-world cluster-randomized trial designed to evaluate a multifaceted community and health systems intervention aimed to improve outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. RACE-CARS will enroll 50 counties in North Carolina that are estimated to have a total of approximately 20,000 patients with cardiac arrest over a 4-year intervention period. County "clusters" will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to intervention versus usual care. The trial duration is 7 years, which includes a 6-month start-up (including recruitment and randomization) period, a 12-month intervention training phase, a 4-year intervention period, a 12-month follow-up for to assess quality of life in survivors of OHCA, and a 6-month close-out and data analysis period.

Publications & conference data

3 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. International Consensus on Evidence Gaps and Research Opportunities in Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation for Refractory Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Report From the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Workshop.
   Morrison LJ, Hunt EA, Grunau B, Aufderheide TP, et al · · 2025 · cited 9× · PMID 40040619 · DOI 10.1161/jaha.124.036108
2. RAndomized Cluster Evaluation of Cardiac ARrest Systems (RACE-CARS) trial: Study rationale and design.
   Krychtiuk KA, Starks MA, Al-Khalidi HR, Mark DB, et al · · 2024 · cited 3× · PMID 39084483 · DOI 10.1016/j.ahj.2024.07.013
3. Public awareness of automated external defibrillator (AED)s and their location: Results of a cross-sectional survey in North Carolina.
   Yonis H, Kaltenbach LA, Nouhravesh N, Mark D, et al · · 2025 · PMID 40034874 · DOI 10.1016/j.resplu.2025.100897