Jd. Fitzgerald et al., FUNCTIONAL STATUS AMONG SURVIVORS OF IN-HOSPITAL CARDIOPULMONARY-RESUSCITATION, Archives of internal medicine, 157(1), 1997, pp. 72-76
Objectives: To describe functional outcomes of seriously ill patients
who survived 2 months after in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation
(CPR) and to identify patient and clinical characteristics associated
with worse functional status after CPR. Methods: Multicenter prospecti
ve observational analysis of 162 seriously ill hospitalized patients w
ho survived 2 months after CPR. Analysis of clinical characteristics a
ssociated with worse functional outcome. Results: Among 162 survivors
of in-hospital CPR, 56% had the same or improved function and 44% had
worse function at 2 months compared with functional status before CPR.
Patients with worse function deteriorated by a mean of 3.9 activities
of daily living and were less likely to survive to hospital discharge
(P<.001) or to 6 months after study entry (P<.001). Worse functional
outcome was associated with greater age and longer hospital stay befor
e CPR. Conclusions: More than half of CPR survivors had preserved func
tional status 2 months after CPR. However, patients with worse functio
n are profoundly disabled. In anticipation of possible severe disabili
ty after CPR, preferences for care in such health states should be dis
cussed with patients before the need for CPR, particularly among older
patients and those with long hospital stays.