• Marjaana Tiainen, Erja Poutiainen, Tuomas Oksanen, Kirsi-Maija Kaukonen, Ville Pettilä, Markus Skrifvars, Tero Varpula, and Maaret Castrén.
• Department of Neurology, Helsinki University Hospital, Haartmaninkatu 4, Helsinki, 00029, Finland. marjaana.tiainen@hus.fi.
• Scand J Trauma Resus. 2015 Jan 1;23:12.

BackgroundTo study functional neurologic and cognitive outcome and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a cohort of patients included in a randomised controlled trial on glucose control following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) from ventricular fibrillation (VF) treated with therapeutic hypothermia.MethodsPatients alive at 6 months after being discharged from the hospital underwent clinical neurological and extensive neuropsychological examinations. Functional outcome was evaluated with the Cerebral Performance Category scale, the modified Rankin scale and the Barthel Index. Cognitive outcome was evaluated by neuropsychological test battery including two measures of each cognitive function: cognitive speed, execution, memory, verbal skills and visuospatial performance. We also assessed quality of life with a HRQoL 15D questionnaire.ResultsOf 90 OHCA-VF patients included in the original trial, 57 were alive at 6 months. Of these, 52 (91%) were functionally independent and 54 (95%) lived at their previous home. Focal neurological deficits were scarce. Intact cognitive performance was observed in 20 (49%), mild to moderate deficits in 14 (34%) and severe cognitive deficits in 7 (17%) of 41 patients assessed by a neuropsychologist. Cognitive impairments were most frequently detected in executive and memory functions. HRQoL of the CA survivors was comparable to that of age- and gender matched population.ConclusionsFunctional outcome six months after OHCA and therapeutic hypothermia was good in the great majority of the survivors, and half of them were cognitively intact. Of note, the HRQoL of CA survivors did not differ from that of age- and gender matched population.

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