• J Hope Kilgannon, Brian W Roberts, Lisa R Reihl, Michael E Chansky, Alan E Jones, R Phillip Dellinger, Joseph E Parrillo, and Stephen Trzeciak.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Camden, Cooper University Hospital, One Cooper Plaza, 114 Kelemen, Camden, NJ 08103, USA.
• Resuscitation. 2008 Dec 1; 79 (3): 410416410-6.

AimAfter return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) from cardiac arrest, profound myocardial stunning and systemic inflammation may cause hemodynamic alterations; however, the prevalence of post-ROSC hemodynamic instability and the strength of association with outcome have not been established. We tested the hypothesis that exposure to arterial hypotension after ROSC occurs commonly (>50%) and is an independent predictor of death.MethodsSingle-center retrospective cohort study of all post-cardiac arrest patients over 1 year.Inclusion Criteria(1) age >17; (2) non-trauma; (3) sustained ROSC after cardiac arrest. Using the Jones criteria, subjects were assigned to one of two groups based on the presence of hypotension within 6h after ROSC: (1) exposures-two or more systolic blood pressures (SBPs) <100mmHg or (2) non-exposures-less than two SBP <100mmHg. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. We compared mortality rates between groups and used multivariate logistic regression to determine if post-ROSC hypotension independently predicted death.Results102 subjects met inclusion criteria. In-hospital mortality was 75%. Exposure to hypotension occurred in 66/102 (65%) and was associated with significantly higher mortality (83%) compared to non-exposures (58%, p=0.01). In a model controlling for common confounding variables (age, pre-arrest functional status, arrest rhythm, and provision of therapeutic hypothermia (HT)), early exposure to hypotension was a strong independent predictor of death (OR 3.5 [95% CI 1.3-9.6]).ConclusionsEarly exposure to arterial hypotension after ROSC was common and an independent predictor of death. These data suggest that post-ROSC hypotension could potentially represent a therapeutic target in post-cardiac arrest care.

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