Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Observational Study
Prognostic value of venous blood analysis at the start of CPR in non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: association with ROSC and the neurological outcome.
The knowledge of new prognostic factors in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) that can be evaluated since the beginning of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) manoeuvres could be helpful in the decision-making process of prehospital care. We aim to identify metabolic variables at the start of advanced CPR at the scene that may be associated with two main outcomes of CPR (recovery of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) and neurological outcome). ⋯ There is a significant relationship between severe alterations of venous blood-gas variables and potassium at the start of CPR of non-traumatic OHCA and low-ROSC rate and neurological prognosis.
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Persistent critical illness is common in critically ill patients and is associated with vast medical resource use and poor clinical outcomes. This study aimed to define when patients with sepsis would be stabilized and transitioned to persistent critical illness, and whether such transition time varies between latent classes of patients. ⋯ While persistent critical illness occurred in a minority of patients with sepsis, it consumed vast medical resources. The transition time differs substantially across latent classes, indicating that the allocation of medical resources should be tailored to different classes of patients.