Resuscitation
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Anxiety and depression among out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors.
Survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) may experience psychological distress but the actual prevalence is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate anxiety and depression within a large cohort of OHCA-survivors. ⋯ One fourth of OHCA-survivors reported symptoms of anxiety and/or depression at 6 months which was similar to STEMI-controls and previous normative data. Subjective cognitive problems were associated with an increased risk for psychological distress. Since psychological distress affects long-term prognosis of cardiac patients in general it should be addressed during follow-up of survivors with OHCA due to a cardiac cause. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01020916/NCT01946932.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Chest compression fraction: A time dependent variable of survival in shockable out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
The role of chest compression fraction (CCF) in resuscitation of shockable out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is uncertain. We evaluated the relationship between CCF and clinical outcomes in a secondary analysis of the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium PRIMED trial. ⋯ In this study of OHCA patients presenting in a shockable rhythm, CCF was paradoxically associated with lower odds of survival. CCF is a complex measure and taken by itself may not be a consistent predictor of good clinical outcomes.
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The discovery that mild, induced hypothermia can improve neurological recovery after global moderate to severe hypoxia-ischemia has been a dramatic validation of the strong foundation of preclinical studies that informed current protocols. The major challenge is to find ways to further improve outcomes. As discussed in this review, the findings from large clinical trials of extended cooling are highly concordant with recent animal studies. These findings support the use of precise, carefully selected animal models to refine our strategies to protect babies with moderate to severe encephalopathy before instigating further large trials.
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Observational Study
The Relationship between Survival after Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest and Process Measures for Emergency Medical Service Ambulance Team Performance.
International institutes have developed their own clinical performance indicators for ambulance services. It is unknown whether these process measures are related to survival of patients after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). We aimed to determine whether Emergency Medical Service (EMS)-related ambulance team process measures correlate with patient survival. ⋯ The EMS team-level process measures proposed by international institutes may not predict the risk-adjusted survival rate. Using these measures to motivate EMS teams to improve their quality performance would be questionable. Increased efforts should be devoted to constructing more pivotal EMS team-level process measures that are tightly linked to survival.
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The in-hospital emergency team (ET) may or may not recognize the causes of in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) during the provision of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). In a previous 4.5-year prospective study, this rate of recognition was found to be 66%. The aim of this study was to investigate whether survival improved if the cause of arrest was recognized by the ET. ⋯ Patients suffering an IHCA showed a substantial survival benefit if the causes of arrest were recognized by the ET. Patient records and pre-arrest clinical symptoms were the sources of information most frequently utilized in these instances.