Patient Population
Paramedics screened patients with chest pain to determine their eligibility for enrolment. Patients
framework for the conduct of clinical trials in the emergency setting. The study was approved by
he Human Research Ethics Committees of all participating hospitals utilizing a process of
delayed consent. Prior to pre-hospital enrolment, patients were given brief information and the
opportunity to opt out of the trial. Informedconsent by the patient or next of kin was sought after
tabilization in hospital. The study was designed by the authors, whowrote all drafts ofthe
manuscript and vouch for the integrity and completeness of the data and analyses and for the
Downloaded from http://circ.ahajournals.org/ by guest on June 1, 2016
DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.014494
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were included if they were adults 18 years of age, had chest pain commencing less than 12
hours prior to assessment, with prehospital electrocardiography (ECG) evidence of STEMI, as
determined by the paramedic, defined as ST-segment elevation of 0.1 mV in two contiguous
limb leads, or 0.2 mV in two contiguous chest leads, or new left bundle branch block pattern.
Patients were excluded if any of the following were present: oxygen saturation