Most adults who survived out-of-hospital cardiac arrests remained neurologically intact, even if cardiopulmonary resuscitation lasted longer than has been recommended, authors of a retrospective observational study reported at the American Heart Association scientific sessions.
Dr. Jefferson Williams of the Wake County Department of Emergency Medical Services in Raleigh, N.C., and his associates studied 3,814 adults who had a cardiac arrest outside the hospital between 2005 and 2014. Only 12% of patients survived, but 84% of survivors had a cerebral performance category of 1 or 2, including 10% who underwent more than 35 minutes of CPR before reaching the hospital.
Dr. Jefferson Williams
Neurologically intact survival was associated with having an initial shockable rhythm, a bystander-witnessed arrest, and return of spontaneous circulation in the field rather than in the hospital. Age, basic airway management, and therapeutic hypothermia phase also predicted survival with intact brain function, but duration of CPR did not.
Dr. Williams had no disclosures. The senior author disclosed research funding from the Medtronic Foundation.