• Paweł Franczuk, Krzysztof Rewiuk, Jerzy Gasowski, Piotr Faryan, Haghighi Massod Vadiee, and Tomasz Grodzicki.
• Department of Internal Medicine and Gerontology, Jagiellonian University, Medical College, Kraków, Poland. franczuk@mp.pl
• Cardiol J. 2008 Jan 1; 15 (6): 543-7.

BackgroundThe aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of in-hospital cardiac arrest and survival during 10 years of observation.MethodsStudy Grouppatients hospitalized in the Internal Medicine Unit (including Intensive Care) in the years 1995-1997 with cardiac arrest during hospitalization. The probable reasons for the cardiac arrest were defined (cardiac or non-cardiac) as well as the mechanism (VF/VT, other). The number of deaths during the first 24 hours from the episode, during the whole stay in the hospital and after one, five and ten-years was analyzed.ResultsDuring the period examined, 152 cardiac arrests took place. The resuscitation was successful in 83 cases. In that group, 66% patients had cardiac cause of cardiac arrest, 50.6% in the mechanism of VF. Ninety percent of the patients died during their stay in the hospital (38.5% during the first 24 hours after the episode), 10% of the patients left the hospital alive. Only 2 of them (2.4%) survived the next 5 years. Nobody survived 10 years.ConclusionsCardiac arrest within the internal ward was characterized by high in-hospital mortality risk and unsuccessful late prognosis. Non-cardiac cause of cardiac arrest, relatively common in cases of in-hospital cardiac arrest, is connected with better survival after the first 24 hours; however, it does not improve the general survival to hospital discharge.

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