Newswise — Mortality rates after cardiac arrest are high, but there are important differences among patients who survive to receive hospital care before their death, according to a study published in American Journal of Critical Care ( AJCC ) . “ Clinical Factors Associated with Mode of Death Following Cardiac Arrest” examined data from medical records of 731 adult patients admitted to the hospital after resuscitation from in-hospital or out-of-hospital cardiac arrest between January 2015 and March 2020 who subsequently died during their hospital stay. Co-author Archana Hinduja, MD, an associate professor, department of neurocritical care, The Ohio State University (OSU), Columbus, specializes in neurology at OSU’s Wexner Medical Center.
“It’s important to take account of a variety of personal and clinical factors related to individual decision-making regarding withdrawal of care,” Dr. Hinduja said. “Families often face the challenging decision of whether to continue with aggressive, life-sustaining treatments or focus on quality of life and comfort measures.
The differences identified in our study can help clinicians provide appropriate guidance to the surrogate decision-makers about likely clinical outcomes for their loved one.” The most common mode of death was due to medical causes in 331 patients (45.3%), of whom 64 experienced a subsequent cardiac arrest prior to their death.
The researchers suspect the fact that more than half (52%) of the total study.
