Heart & lung : the journal of critical care
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To determine the prevalence, type, severity, and natural evolution of cognitive impairments in survivors of sudden cardiac arrest over time and to assess the relation of selected clinical and psychologic variables to those outcomes. ⋯ A significant minority of sudden death survivors incur long-term cognitive impairments, particularly in delayed recall or short-term memory. The occurrence of long-term cognitive deficits in these patients can be estimated from the duration of unconsciousness after resuscitation (time-to-awakening).