Characteristics and outcome among patients with a suspected in-hospital cardiac arrest

Aim: To describe the characteristics and outcome among patients with a susp ected in-hospital cardiac arrest. Methods: All the patients who suffered fr om a suspected in-hospital cardiac arrest during a 14-months period, where the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) team was called, were recorded and described prospectively in terms of characteristics and outcome. Results: T here were 278 calls for the CPR team. Of these, 216 suffered a true cardiac arrest, 16 a respiratory arrest and 46 neither. The percentage of patients who were discharged alive from hospital was 32% for cardiac arrest patient s, 62% for respiratory arrest and 87% for the remaining patients. Among pat ients with a cardiac arrest, those found in ventricular fibrillation/ventri cular tachycardia had a survival rate of 64%, those found in asystole 24% a nd those found in pulseless electrical activity 10%. Among patients who wer e being monitored at the time of arrest, the survival rate was 52% as compa red with 27% for non-monitored patients (P = 0.001). Among survivors of car diac arrest, a cerebral performance category (CPC) of 1 (no major deficit) was observed in 81% at discharge and in 82% on admission to hospital prior to the arrest. Conclusion: We conclude that, during a 14-month period at Sa hlgrenska University Hospital in Goteborg, almost half the patients with a cardiac arrest in which the CPR team was called were discharged from hospit al. Among survivors, 81% had a CPC score of 1 at hospital discharge. Surviv al seems to be closely related to the relative effectiveness of the resusci tation organisation in different parts of the hospital. (C) 1998 Elsevier S cience Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.