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Background: The PROLOGUE score (PROgnostication using LOGistic regression model for Unselected adult cardiac arrest patients in the Early stages) is a novel prognostic model for the prediction of neurological outcome after cardiac arrest, which showed exceptional performance in the internal validation. The aim of this study is to validate the PROLOGUE score in an independent cohort of unselected adult cardiac arrest patients and to compare it to the thoroughly validated Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) and Cardiac Arrest Hospital Prognosis (CAHP) scores., Methods: This study included consecutive adult cardiac arrest patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a Swiss tertiary teaching hospital between October 2012 and July 2022. The primary endpoint was poor neurological outcome at hospital discharge, defined as a Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) score of 3 to 5 including death., Results: Of 687 patients included in the analysis, 321 (46.7%) survived to hospital discharge with good neurological outcome, 68 (9.9%) survived with poor neurological outcome and 298 (43.4%) died. The PROLOGUE score showed an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.83 (95% CI 0.80 to 0.86) and good calibration for the prediction of the primary outcome. The OHCA and CAHP score showed similar performance (AUROC 0.83 and 0.84 respectively), the differences between the three scores were not significant (p = 0.495). In a subgroup analysis, the PROLOGUE score performed equally in out-of-hospital and in-hospital cardiac arrest patients whereas the OHCA and CAHP score performed significantly better in OHCA patients., Conclusion: The PROLOGUE score showed good prognostic accuracy for the early prediction of neurological outcome in adult cardiac arrest survivors in our cohort and might support early goals-of-care discussions in the ICU. Trial registration Not applicable., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

This work aims to assess the performance of two post-arrest (out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, OHCA, and cardiac arrest hospital prognosis, CAHP) and one pre-arrest (good outcome following attempted resuscitation, GO-FAR) prediction model for the prognostication of neurological outcome after cardiac arrest in a systematic review and meta-analysis. A systematic search was conducted in Embase, Medline, and Web of Science Core Collection from November 2006 to December 2021, and by forward citation tracking of key score publications. The search identified 1'021 records, of which 25 studies with a total of 124'168 patients were included in the review. A random-effects meta-analysis of C-statistics and overall calibration (total observed vs. expected [O:E] ratio) was conducted. Discriminatory performance was good for the OHCA (summary C-statistic: 0.83 [95% CI 0.81-0.85], 16 cohorts) and CAHP score (summary C-statistic: 0.84 [95% CI 0.82-0.87], 14 cohorts) and acceptable for the GO-FAR score (summary C-statistic: 0.78 [95% CI 0.72-0.84], five cohorts). Overall calibration was good for the OHCA (total O:E ratio: 0.78 [95% CI 0.67-0.92], nine cohorts) and the CAHP score (total O:E ratio: 0.78 [95% CI 0.72-0.84], nine cohorts) with an overestimation of poor outcome. Overall calibration of the GO-FAR score was poor with an underestimation of good outcome (total O:E ratio: 1.62 [95% CI 1.28-2.04], five cohorts). Two post-arrest scores showed good prognostic accuracy for predicting neurological outcome after cardiac arrest and may support early discussions about goals-of-care and therapeutic planning on the intensive care unit. A pre-arrest score showed acceptable prognostic accuracy and may support code status discussions., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Intensive care unit patients are at risk for post-intensive care syndrome (PICS), which includes psychological, physical and/or cognitive sequelae after their hospital stay. Our aim was to investigate PICS in adult patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA)., Methods: In this prospective observational cohort study, we assessed risks for PICS at 3 and 12-month follow-up within the following domains: a) physical impairment (EuroQol [EQ-5D-3L]), b) cognitive functioning (Cerebral Performance Category [CPC] score >1, modified Rankin Scale [mRS] >2) and c) psychological burden (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS], Impact of Event Scale-Revised [IES-R])., Results: At 3 months, 69/139 patients (50%) met the definition of PICS including 37% in the physical domain, 25% in the cognitive domain and 13% in the psychological domain. Intubation (OR 2.3, 95%CI 1.1 to 5,0 p = 0.03), sedatives (OR 3.4, 95%CI 1 to 11, p = 0.045), mRS at discharge (OR 4.3, 95%CI 1.70 to 11.01, p = 0.002), CPC at discharge (OR 3.3, 95%CI 1.4 to 7.6, p = 0.005) and post-discharge work loss (OR 13.4, 95%CI 1.7 to 107.5, p = 0.014) were significantly associated with PICS. At 12 months, 52/110 (47%) patients had PICS, which was associated with prolonged duration of rehabilitation, higher APACHE scores, and higher mRS and CPC scores at hospital discharge., Conclusions: Nearly half of long-term OHCA survivors show PICS after 3 and 12 months. These high numbers call for more emphasis on appropriate screening and treatment in this patient population. Future studies should evaluate whether early identification of these patients enables preventive strategies and treatment options., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Importance: Data on long-term survival beyond 12 months after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) of a presumed cardiac cause are scarce., Objective: To investigate the long-term survival of adult patients after surviving the initial hospital stay for an OHCA., Data Sources: A systematic search of the EMBASE and MEDLINE databases was performed from database inception to March 25, 2021., Study Selection: Clinical studies reporting long-term survival after OHCA were selected based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria according to a preregistered study protocol., Data Extraction and Synthesis: Patient data were reconstructed from Kaplan-Meier curves using an iterative algorithm and then pooled to generate survival curves. As a separate analysis, an aggregate data meta-analysis was performed., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was long-term survival (>12 months) after OHCA for patients surviving to hospital discharge or 30 days after OHCA., Results: The search identified 15 347 reports, of which 21 studies (11 800 patients) were included in the Kaplan-Meier-based meta-analysis and 33 studies (16 933 patients) in an aggregate data meta-analysis. In the Kaplan-Meier-based analysis, the median survival time for patients surviving to hospital discharge was 5.0 years (IQR, 2.3-7.9 years). The estimated survival rates were 82.8% (95% CI, 81.9%-83.7%) at 3 years, 77.0% (95% CI, 75.9%-78.0%) at 5 years, 63.9% (95% CI, 62.3%-65.4%) at 10 years, and 57.5% (95% CI, 54.8%-60.1%) at 15 years. Compared with patients with a nonshockable initial rhythm, patients with a shockable rhythm had a lower risk of long-term mortality (hazard ratio, 0.30; 95% CI, 0.23-0.39; P < .001). Different analyses, including an aggregate data meta-analysis, confirmed these results., Conclusions and Relevance: In this comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis, long-term survival after 10 years in patients surviving the initial hospital stay after OHCA was between 62% and 64%. Additional research is needed to understand and improve the long-term survival in this vulnerable patient population.

Objectives: Prior research found the gut microbiota-dependent and pro-atherogenic molecule trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) to be associated with cardiovascular events as well as all-cause mortality in different patient populations with cardiovascular disease. Our aim was to investigate the prognostic value of TMAO regarding clinical outcomes in patients after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA)., Methods: We included consecutive OHCA patients upon intensive care unit admission into this prospective observational study between October 2012 and May 2016. We studied associations of admission serum TMAO with in-hospital mortality (primary endpoint), 90-day mortality and neurological outcome defined by the Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) scale., Results: We included 258 OHCA patients of which 44.6% died during hospitalization. Hospital non-survivors showed significantly higher admission TMAO levels (μmol L-1) compared to hospital survivors (median interquartile range (IQR) 13.2 (6.6-34.9) vs. 6.4 (2.9-15.9), p<0.001). After multivariate adjustment for other prognostic factors, TMAO levels were significantly associated with in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratios (OR) 2.1, 95%CI 1.1-4.2, p=0.026). Results for secondary outcomes were similar with significant associations with 90-day mortality and neurological outcome in univariate analyses., Conclusions: In patients after OHCA, TMAO levels were independently associated with in-hospital mortality and other adverse clinical outcomes and may help to improve prognostication for these patients in the future. Whether TMAO levels can be influenced by nutritional interventions should be addressed in future studies.

Purpose: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a leading cause of mortality, yet the prediction of its outcome remains challenging. Serum Acyl Carnitines (ACs), a biomarker of beta-oxidation, have been associated with cardiovascular events. We evaluated the association of different AC species with mortality and neurological outcome in a cohort of OHCA patients., Material and Methods: We consecutively included OHCA patients in this prospective observational study upon admission to the intensive care unit. We studied the association of thirty-nine different ACs measured at admission and 30-day mortality (primary endpoint), as well as neurological outcome at hospital discharge (secondary endpoint) using the Cerebral Performance Category scale. Multivariate models were adjusted for age, gender, comorbidities and shock markers., Results: Of 281 included patients, 137 (48.8%) died within 30 days and of the 144 survivors (51.2%), 15 (10.4%) had poor neurological outcome. While several ACs were associated with mortality, AC C2 had the highest prognostic value for mortality (fully-adjusted odds ratio 4.85 (95%CI 1.8 to 13.06, p < .01), area under curve (AUC) 0.65) and neurological outcome (fully-adjusted odds ratio 3.96 (95%CI 1.47 to 10.66, p < .01), AUC 0.63)., Conclusions: ACs are interesting surrogate biomarkers that are associated with mortality and poor neurological outcome in patients after OHCA and may help to improve the understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms and risk stratification., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The corresponding author states on behalf of all authors that there was no conflict of interest for this trial., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aim: Neuron-specific enolase (NSE) increases in response to brain injury and is recommended for outcome prediction in cardiac arrest patients. Our aim was to investigate whether NSE measured at different days after a cardiac arrest and its kinetics would improve the prognostic ability of two cardiac arrest specific risk scores., Methods: Within this prospective observational study, we included consecutive adult patients after cardiac arrest. We calculated the Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) score and the Cardiac Arrest Hospital Prognosis (CAHP) score upon ICU admission and measured serum NSE upon admission and days 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7. We calculated logistic regression models to study associations of scores and NSE levels with neurological outcome defined by Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) scale and in-hospital death., Results: From 336 included patients, 180 (54%) survived until hospital discharge, of which 150 (45%) had a good neurological outcome. NSE at day 3 showed the highest prognostic accuracy (discrimination) for neurological outcome (area under the curve (AUC) 0.89) and in-hospital mortality (AUC 0.88). These results were robust in reclassification statistics and across different subgroups. NSE kinetics with admission levels serving as a baseline did not further improve prognostication. NSE on day 3 significantly improved discrimination of both clinical risk scores (CAHP from AUC 0.81 to 0.91; OHCA from AUC 0.79 to 0.89)., Conclusion: NSE measured at day 3 significantly improves clinical risk scores for outcome prediction in cardiac arrest patients and may thus add to clinical decision making about escalation or withdrawal of therapy in this vulnerable patient population., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Relatives of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) may suffer from adverse psychological outcomes. We assessed prevalence and risk factors for depression and anxiety in such relatives 90 days after ICU admission., Materials and Methods: This study included consecutive relatives of OHCA patients admitted to the ICU of University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland. Relatives were interviewed upon admission regarding psychosocial risk factors and satisfaction with communication. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were assessed by Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) 90 days after inclusion., Results: Of 101 included relatives, 17% and 13% of relatives reported symptoms of depression and anxiety, respectively. Witnessing cardiopulmonary resuscitation was associated with depression (gender- and age-adjusted odds ratio [OR] 6.71; 95%CI 1.27 to 35.34; p = .025). Satisfaction with information and decision-making was associated with lower risk of depression (adjusted OR 0.95; 95%CI 0.91 to 0.99; p = .013). Unemployment (adjusted OR 10.42; 95%CI 1.18 to 92.35; p = .035) and lower perceived health status were associated with anxiety (adjusted OR 0.93; 95%CI 0.87 to 0.99; p = .025)., Conclusions: Many relatives of OHCA patients report symptoms of depression and anxiety after 90 days. Improving initial care and communication may help to reduce these risks., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aim: Several scores are available to predict mortality and neurological outcome in cardiac arrest patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). The aim of the study was to externally validate the prognostic value of four previously published risk scores., Methods: For this observational, single-center study, we prospectively included 349 consecutive adult cardiac arrest patients upon ICU admission. We calculated two cardiac arrest specific risk scores (OHCA and CAHP) and two general severity of illness scores (APACHE II and SAPS II). The primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality. Secondary endpoints were neurological outcome at hospital discharge and 30-day mortality., Results: 170 patients (49%) died until hospital discharge. All scores were independently associated with outcomes in logistic regression analysis and showed acceptable discrimination for in-hospital mortality with highest AUCs of the cardiac arrest specific risk scores (OHCA: 0.80 (95%CI 0.75-0.85) and CAHP: 0.84 (95%CI 0.79-0.88) compared to the severity of illness scores (APACHE II: 0.78 (95%CI 0.73-0.83) and SAPS II: 0.77 (95%CI 0.72-0.82). Results were robust in subgroup analysis except for worse performance in elderly patients (>75 years) and patients with respiratory cause of cardiac arrest. Results were similar for 30-days mortality and slightly higher for neurological outcome., Conclusions: This study confirms the good prognostic performance of cardiac arrest specific scores to predict mortality and neurological outcomes in cardiac arrest patients. Routine use of OHCA or CAHP score helps to objectively risk stratify these vulnerable patients and thereby may improve therapeutic decisions., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Prognostication of cardiac arrest patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) may influence treatment decision, but remains challenging. We evaluated the incremental usefulness of routine blood markers from different biological pathways for predicting fatal outcome and neurological deficits in cardiac arrest patients., Methods: We prospectively included consecutive, adult cardiac arrest patients upon ICU admission. We recorded initial clinical parameters and measured blood markers of cardiac injury/stress (troponin, BNP, CK), inflammation/infection (WBC, CRP, procalcitonin) and shock (lactate, creatinine, urea). The primary and secondary endpoints were all-cause in-hospital mortality and bad neurological outcome defined by the Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) score., Results: Mortality in the 321 included patients was 49% (n = 156). Procalcitonin (adjusted odds ratio 1.84, 95%CI 1.34 to 2.53, p < 0.001; AUC 0.73) and lactate (adjusted odds ratio 7.29, 95%CI 3.05 to 17.42, p < 0.001; AUC 0.70) were identified as independent prognostic factors for mortality and significantly improved discrimination of a parsimonious clinical model including resuscitation measures (no-flow time, shockable rhythm) and initial vital signs (Glasgow coma scale, respiratory rate) from an AUC of 0.79 to 0.84 (p < 0.001). Cardiac markers did not further improve the model. Results for neurological outcome were similar with model improvements by procalcitonin and lactate from AUC 0.83 to 0.87 (p = 0.004)., Conclusion: Assessment of routine markers of inflammation/infection and shock provide significant improvements for prognostication of cardiac arrest patients, while cardiac markers did not further improve statistical models. Combination of blood markers and clinical parameters may help to improve initial management decisions in this vulnerable patient population., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aim: Prognostic uncertainty and surrogate decision-making demands associated with prolonged unconsciousness in out-of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) may increase post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) risk in their relatives. Our aim was to study PTSD frequency and risk factors in relatives of OHCA patients., Methods: In this observational study 101 consecutive eligible adult relatives of OHCA patients were interviewed using validated questionnaires, the "Impact of Event Scale-Revised" to detect PTSD and the "Family-Satisfaction with Care in the ICU" to assess potential PTSD risk factors., Results: PTSD was detected in 40/101 relatives (40%). Multivariate logistic regression identified three significant PTSD predictors [odds ratio, 95% confidence interval]: female gender [3.30, 1.08-10.11], history of depression [3.63, 1.02-12.96], family perception of the patient's therapy as insufficient [18.40, 1.52-224.22]. Three other predictors were not significantly associated with PTSD (hypothermia treatment of the patient [2.86, 0.96-8.48]), delayed delivery of prognostic information by ICU staff [2.11, 0.83-5.38], family-ICU staff conflict [3.61, 0.71-18.40]). A prediction rule including six factors (p<0.15 each) showed high discrimination (area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve 0.74) with a stepwise increase in risk for PTSD from 0% (no risk factor) to 63% (≥3 risk factors). There was no evidence for effect modification either by survival status or neurological outcome., Conclusion: Relatives of OHCA patients treated in the ICU are at increased risk of PTSD, which can be predicted based on six factors, three ICU-related and potentially at least partly modifiable. Further research is needed to validate our findings and to develop strategies to prevent PTSD in OHCA patients' relatives., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Investigators in France have developed a risk score to predict death or poor neurologic outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The aim of this study is to externally validate this score in an independent patient population in the United States., Design: Retrospective, observational, cohort study., Patients: Patients being admitted to the intensive care unit after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest., Setting: Two geographically distinct tertiary care hospitals in the United States., Interventions: None., Measurements and Main Results: The primary end point was poor outcome, defined as either death or a Cerebral Performance Category score of 3-5. The secondary end point was all-cause mortality. Calibration was assessed by comparing the number of expected outcomes based on the logistic model of the French study with observed outcomes within this study using Hosmer-Lemeshow C test (goodness-of-fit). Discrimination was assessed by calculation of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Of a total of 128 patients, 99 (77%) had a poor outcome, including 91 nonsurvivors (71%). The probability of poor neurologic outcome and mortality increased stepwise with increasing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest score. Graphic display of observed against predicted outcomes and goodness-of-fit test indicated good calibration of the score (p = .4). The score showed good discrimination for poor outcome (area under the receiving operating characteristic curve, 0.85; 95% confidence interval, 0.79-0.92) and for mortality (area under the receiving operating characteristic curve, 0.85; 95% confidence interval, 0.78-0.91). In patients with an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest score >40 points and >60 points, the positive predictive value for poor outcome was 97% and 100%, respectively., Conclusions: This study found good calibration and high discrimination of the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest score in two geographically distinct patient populations in the United States. Particularly, this score had a high positive predictive value and performed well in identifying high-risk patients for poor outcomes.