Objective: Fifty consecutive cases of cardiopulmonary arrest with administr
ation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) during a 6-yr period at a free
standing academic acute rehabilitation hospital were identified.
Design: Medical records of 49 patients were available for review. Outcomes
of survival of arrest, survival to 24 hr postarrest, survival to discharge
from the hospital were determined, and chi (2) or Fisher's exact tests were
performed to investigate relationships between survival and admission func
tional status, age, gender, and medical comorbidities.
Results: Forty-three percent of patients survived the initial arrest, 37% s
urvived to 24 hr post-CPR, and 18% survived to hospital discharge. We were
unable to identify any statistically significant predictors of survival pos
t-CPR. Six of the nine survivors returned to the acute rehabilitation setti
ng after cardiopulmonary arrest, and five of these patients made significan
t functional gains.
Conclusions: Outcomes after CPR in patients undergoing acute rehabilitation
in one setting were not significantly different from those reported for pa
tients in other healthcare settings. These data may be used by healthcare p
rofessionals to enhance discussions concerning advance healthcare planning
(including resuscitation plans) with patients and families. Larger studies
are needed to clarify the prognostic role of prior functional status in pre
dicting CPR outcomes, particularly in the context of various diagnostic cat
egories and age groups.