• Lennart van Zellem, Corinne Buysse, Marlous Madderom, Jeroen S Legerstee, Femke Aarsen, Dick Tibboel, and Elisabeth M Utens.
• Intensive Care and Department of Pediatric Surgery, Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Wytemaweg 80, 3015 CN, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
• Intensive Care Med. 2015 Jun 1; 41 (6): 1057-66.

PurposeResearch into neuropsychological functioning of survivors of cardiac arrest (CA) in childhood is scarce. We sought to assess long-term neuropsychological functioning in children and adolescents surviving CA.MethodsNeuropsychological follow-up study involving all consecutive children surviving CA between January 2002 and December 2011. Intelligence (IQ), language, attention, memory, visual-spatial, and executive functioning were assessed with internationally validated, neuropsychological tests and questionnaires. Scores were compared with Dutch normative data.ResultsOf 107 eligible children, 47 who visited the outpatient clinic (median follow-up interval: 5.6 years) were analyzed. Fifty-five percent had an in-hospital CA, 86% a non-shockable rhythm, and 49% a respiratory-related etiology. CA survivors scored significantly worse on full-scale IQ (mean = 87.3), verbal IQ (mean = 92.7), performance IQ (mean = 85.6), verbal comprehension index (mean = 93.4), perceptual organization index (mean = 83.8), and processing speed index (mean = 91.1), than the norm population (mean IQ = 100). On neuropsychological tests, compared with norms, respectively adjusted for IQ, significantly worse scores were found on visual memory, significantly better on verbal memory (recognition), and comparable outcomes on visual-motor integration, attention, other measures of verbal memory, and executive functioning. On questionnaires, parents reported better executive functioning than the norm, but teachers reported more problems in planning/organizing skills.ConclusionsLong-term neuropsychological assessment of CA survivors showed significant weaknesses, but also relatively intact functioning. As deficits in IQ, memory and executive functioning have significant impact on the child, long-term follow-up and neuropsychological support of CA survivors is warranted.

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