Objective
Despite recent advancements in post-cardiac arrest resuscitation, the optimal measurement of post-arrest outcome remains unclear. We hypothesized that cerebral performance category (CPC) score can predict the long-term outcome of post- arrest survivors who received targeted temperature management (TTM) during their post-arrest hospital care.
Design
Retrospective chart review.
Setting
Two academic medical centers from May, 2005 to December, 2012.
Patients
The medical records of 2,417 out-of-hospital and in-hospital post-cardiac arrest patients were reviewed to identify 140 out of 582 survivors who received TTM.
Interventions
None.
Measurements and Main Results
The CPC scores at hospital discharge were determined by three independent abstractors. The 1-month, 6-month, and 12-month survival of these patients were determined by reviewing hospital records, querying the Social Security Death Index, and follow-up telephone calls. The unadjusted long-term survival and adjusted survival association with CPC were calculated. Of the 2,417 identified cardiac arrest patients, 24.1% (582/2417) were successfully resuscitated, of whom 24.1% (140/582) received post-arrest TTM. Overall, 42.9% (60/140) were discharged with CPC 1, 27.1% (38/140) with CPC 2, 18.6% (26/140) with CPC 3, and 11.4% (16/140) with CPC 4. CPC 1 survivors had the highest long-term survival followed by CPC 2 and 3, with CPC 4 having the lowest long-term survival (p < 0.001, log-rank test). We found that CPC 3 (hazard ratio = 3.62, p < 0.05) and CPC 4 (hazard ratio = 12.73, p <0.001) remained associated with worse survival after adjusting for age, gender, race, shockable rhythm, time to TTM initiation, total duration of resuscitation, withdrawal of care, and location of arrest.
Conclusion
Patients with different CPC scores at discharge have significantly different survival trajectories. Favorable CPC at hospital discharge predicts better long-term outcomes of cardiac arrest survivors who received TTM than those with less favorable CPC scores.