Background: Contrary to guidelines, we recently found that epinephrine administration before first defibrillation for in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) due to a shockable rhythm is not uncommon. However, the extent to which the above practice varies across hospitals and its association with hospital-level survival is unknown. Methods: Using 2000-19 data from the Get With The Guidelines ® -Resuscitation (GWTG-R) registry, we identified 57,816 adult patients (521 sites) with an index IHCA due to an initial shockable rhythm who received at least 1 defibrillation prior to achieving return of spontaneous circulation. We constructed multivariable hierarchical regression models to examine site-level variation in epinephrine before first defibrillation and its association with hospital survival. Results: Overall, the median rate of epinephrine before defibrillation was 18.8% and varied markedly across hospitals (range: 0%-70.6%, median odds ratio [OR] 1.50; 95% C.I. 1.43 - 1.57). Compared to hospitals in the lowest quartile (Q1) for epinephrine before defibrillation, hospitals in the highest quartile (Q4) were more likely to be major teaching hospitals and have more hospital beds. After adjusting for baseline variables, the median risk-standardized survival was 42.5% (IQR: 39.2%-46.0%). Compared to Q1 hospitals (epinephrine first rate of 0-12.4%), there was a stepwise decline in risk-standardized survival at hospitals with higher rates of epinephrine before first defibrillation: Q2: RR 0.95 [0.90-0.99]; Q3: RR 0.91 [0.87-0.96]; Q4: RR 0.81 [0.77-0.86]; P value for trend <0.001. Conclusions: For patients with shockable IHCA, there is marked hospital variation in epinephrine administration prior to first defibrillation, and this practice is associated with lower rates of survival to discharge. Hospital efforts to prioritize immediate defibrillation for patients with shockable IHCA are urgently needed.

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