Quality of Life and Functional Outcomes 12 Months After Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Abstract

Background-Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a significant global health problem. There has been considerable investment in improving the emergency medical response to OHCA, with associated improvements in survival. However, concern remains that survivors have a poor quality of life. This study describes the quality of life of OHCA survivors at 1-year postarrest in Victoria, Australia. Methods and Results-Adult OHCA patients who arrested between 2010 and 2012 were identified from the Victorian Ambulance Cardiac Arrest Registry. Paramedics attended 15 113 OHCA patients of which 46.3% received an attempted resuscitation. Nine hundred and twenty-seven (13.2%) survived to hospital discharge of which 76 (8.2%) died within 12 months. Interviews were conducted with 697 (80.7%) patients or proxies, who were followed-up via telephone interview, including the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended, the 12-item short form health survey, and the EuroQol. The majority (55.6%) of respondents had a good recovery via the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended≥7 (41.1% if patients who died postdischarge were included and nonrespondents were assumed to have poor recovery

Comparison of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest occurring before and after paramedic arrival: Epidemiology, survival to hospital discharge and 12-month functional recovery

“…13 For all attempted resuscitations, our data show that the risk-adjusted odds of 12-month survival with good functional recovery was more than five times higher in EMS witnessed arrests when compared to bystander witnessed cases receiving bystander CPR. When limited to patients who survive to hospital discharge, the improvement in 12-month survival with good neurological recovery was less marked in the EMS witnessed group, but remained 50% more likely than bystander witnessed cases receiving bystander CPR.…”

“…13 Patients who survive to hospital discharge are cross-checked against death records from the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages to ascertain patients which may have died within the 12-month follow-up period. Patients who undergo telephone follow-up complete responses to a number of health-related quality of life assessment tools including the Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOSE) which measures functional recovery on an eight point scale ranging from one (death at follow-up) through to eight (upper good recovery).…”

Comorbidity and favorable neurologic outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in patients of 70 years and older

“…Furthermore, recent studies show a good perceived quality of life of older patients, comparable to a reference population. 23,24 Notably, no surviving patients in our study cohort survived the OHCA in vegetative condition.…”

A Clinical Perspective on Sudden Cardiac Death

“…61 Early coronary angiography in patients resuscitated as a result of a shockable rhythm with immediate percutaneous coronary intervention improves survival. 26,27 A full cardiac assessment is needed in cardiac arrest survivors.…”