Long-term disabilities, death common for survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

A new study found that 35% of patients who awoke in the 14 days after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) had moderate-to-severe disabilities or had died after 18 months. Low-flow time, clinical severity at ICU admission, prolonged coma duration, and mechanical ventilation were risk factors associated with poor functional outcome.

Ninety-eight individuals were assessable for the primary outcome measure of Glasgow outcome scale-extended (GOS-E) at month 18. After 18 months, 65% of patients had full recovery or minor disabilities, 18% had moderate disabilities but were autonomous for daily-life activities, 12% had poor autonomy, and 4 patients had died. At month 18, no patients had major neurological disabilities, 20% had cognitive disabilities, 32% had anxiety symptoms, and 25% had depression symptoms.

Reference

Peskine A, Cariou A, Hajage D, et al. Long-term disabilities of survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: the Hanox study. Chest. 2020; DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2020.07.022