• Graham Nichol, Danielle Guffey, Ian G Stiell, Brian Leroux, Sheldon Cheskes, Ahamed Idris, Peter J Kudenchuk, Renee S Macphee, Lynn Wittwer, Jon C Rittenberger, Thomas D Rea, Kellie Sheehan, Val E Rac, Keitki Raina, Kyle Gorman, Tom Aufderheide, and Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium Investigators.
• Clinical Trial Center, Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States; University of Washington-Harborview Center for Prehospital Emergency Care, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States. Electronic address: nichol@uw.edu.
• Resuscitation. 2015 Aug 1;93:74-81.

ImportanceAssessment of morbidity is an important component of evaluating interventions for patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).ObjectiveWe evaluated among survivors of OHCA cognition, functional status, health-related quality of life and depression as functions of patient and emergency medical services (EMS) factors.DesignProspective cohort sub-study of a randomized trial.SettingThe parent trial studied two comparisons in persons with non-traumatic OHCA treated by EMS personnel participating in the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium.ParticipantsConsenting survivors to discharge.Main Outcome MeasuresTelephone assessments up to 6 months after discharge included neurologic function (modified Rankin score, MRS), cognitive impairment (Adult Lifestyle and Function Mini Mental Status Examination, ALFI-MMSE), health-related quality of life (Health Utilities Index Mark 3, HUI3) and depression (Telephone Geriatric Depression Scale, T-GDS).ResultsOf 15,794 patients enrolled in the parent trial, 729 (56% of survivors) consented. About 644 respondents (88% of consented) completed ≥ 1 assessment. Likelihood of assessment was associated with baseline characteristics and study site. Most respondents had MRS ≤ 3 (82.7%), no cognitive impairment (82.7% ALFI-MMSE ≥ 17), no severe impairment in health (71.6%, HUI3 ≥ 0.7) and no depression (90.1% T-GDS≤10). Outcomes did not differ by trial intervention or time from hospital discharge.Conclusions And RelevanceThe majority of patients in this large cohort who survived cardiac arrest and were interviewed had no, mild or moderate health impairment. Concern about poor quality of life is not a valid reason to abandon efforts to improve an EMS system's response to cardiac arrest.Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

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