Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the mortality rate of cardiac arrest in our institution and to determine the association between clinical available variables with early mortality and neurological outcomes.
Design, setting, and patients: We performed a retrospective study including all adult patients with the first diagnosis of “cardiac arrest” admitted to the intensive care unit of a Portuguese tertiary hospital, from 2015 to 2020. Outcomes were early mortality, including in-hospital and 1 month after discharge mortality, and neurological function after cardiac arrest as defined by the Cerebral Performance Category score scale.
Results: 114 patients were included, 32 suffered from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, and 82 from in-hospital cardiac arrest. In multivariate logistic analysis, a Glasgow Coma Score after the return of spontaneous circulation less than five and the existence of another cause for cardiac arrest than ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction demonstrated to be predictive factors of early mortality. The poor neurological outcome was associated with a total cardiopulmonary resuscitation length greater than five minutes and a Glasgow Coma Score after the return of spontaneous circulation less than five.
Conclusions: Cardiac arrest is still an important cause of morbimortality in our society. Efforts should be made to optimize its approach, minimizing the cardiorespiratory arrest length to reduce mortality and improve the neurologic prognosis of survivors.
Margarida Cabral, Diana Castro, Maria João Palavras, Flávia Santos, Filipa Sequeira, Luís Pereira, João Morais
