• M B Skrifvars, M Castren, J Nurmi, A B Thoren, S Aune, and J Herlitz.
• Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Helsinki University Hospital, Finland. markus.skrifvars@hus.fi
• J. Intern. Med. 2007 Oct 1;262(4):488-95.

IntroductionFew studies have focused on factors influencing long-term outcome following in-hospital cardiac arrest. The present study assesses whether long-term outcome is influenced by difference in patient factors or factors at resuscitation.MethodsAn analysis of cardiac arrest data collected from one Swedish tertiary hospital and from five Finnish secondary hospitals supplemented with data on 1 year survival. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with survival at 12 months.ResultsA total of 441 patients survived to hospital discharge following in-hospital cardiac arrest and 359 (80%) were alive at 12 months. Factors independently associated with survival [odds ratio (OR) >1 indicates increased survival and <1 decreased survival] at 12 months were; age [OR 0.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.93-0.98], renal disease (OR 0.3, CI 0.1-0.9), good functional status at discharge (OR 4.9, CI 1.3-18.9), arrest occurring at (compared with arrests on general wards) emergency wards (OR 4.7, CI 1.4-15.3), cardiac care unit (OR 2.8, CI 1.2-6.4), intensive care unit (OR 2.4, CI 1.1-5.7), ward for thoracic surgery (OR 10.2, CI 2.6-40.1) and unit for interventional radiology (OR 13.3, CI 3.4-52.0). There was no difference in initial rhythm, delay to defibrillation or delay to return of spontaneous circulation between survivors and nonsurvivors.ConclusionSeveral patient factors, mainly age, functional status and co-morbid disease, influence long-term survival following cardiac arrest in hospital. The location where the arrest occurred also influences survival, but initial rhythm, delay to defibrillation and to return of spontaneous circulation do not.

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