Prognosis Among Survivors of Prehospital Cardiac Arrest, ,

Study objective: To describe the prognosis in consecutive patients discharged from hospital after prehospital cardiac arrest. Patients: All patients in the community of Göteborg who were discharged from hospital after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest between 1981 and 1991. Results: Two hundred forty-three patients were discharged from hospital during the observation period, of whom 80% initially experienced ventricular fibrillation. Among patients discharged, 21% died during the first year; after 10 years, 82% had died. Age, sex, previous history of cardiovascular disease, circumstances at the time of cardiac arrest, complications during hospitalization, and discharge medications were assessed as predictors of 1-year mortality. Independent predictors of death during follow-up were history of myocardial infarction (P<.001), no prescription of β-blockers at discharge (P<.01), age (P<.05), and cerebral performance category (CPC) at discharge (P<.05). Conclusion: Among patients who survived out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, one of five died during the first year and one of five survived 10 years after discharge. Prognosis was associated with a history of myocardial infarction, prescription of β-blockers at discharge, age, and CPC at discharge. [Herlitz J, Ekström L, Wennerblom B, Axelsson Å, Bång A, Holmberg S. Prognosis among survivors of prehospital cardiac arrest. Ann Emerg Med January 1995;25:5863.]