Therapeutic Hypothermia after Cardiac Arrest: Experience at an Academically Affiliated Community-Based Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Table 1

Characteristics of cardiac arrests in which patient survived.

	Not in coma after arrest (𝑛=51 arrests, 42 patients)	In coma after arrest, not cooled (𝑛=18 arrests, 17 patients)	In coma after arrest, cooling started (𝑛=11 arrests, 11 patients)	Statistical test for significance
Sex
Male	40 (95)	17 (100)	10 (91)	𝑃=0.53^e
Age, in yrs	70.4±11.1	72.4±12.4	69.5±13.0	𝐹=0.24, 𝑃=0.79^f
In-hospital Arrest	47 (92)	16 (94)	11 (100)
Initial cardiac rhythm
PEA/asystole	47 (92)	18 (100)	10 (91)	𝑃=0.51^e
VTach/VFib	4 (8)	0 (0)	1 (9)
ROSC in minutes	5.2±4.6 range (0.1–20)^a	33.5±21.2 range (5–60)^b	21.9±11.9 range (5–35)^c	𝐹=29.6, 𝑃<0.001^f
Mechanism of arrest
1° Cardiac	24 (47)	4 (22)	2 (18)	𝑃=0.07^e
1° Pulmonary	13 (25)	8 (44)	3 (27)	𝑃=0.33^e
1° Gastrointestinal	1 (2)	2 (11)	1 (9)	𝑃=0.18^e
Sepsis/infection	5 (10)	2 (11)	0 (0)	𝑃=0.72^e
Intraoperative	2 (4)	2 (11)	0 (0)	𝑃=0.30^e
Unknown/other	6 (12)	0 (0)	5 (45)	𝑃=0.005
Comorbidities
CAD or CHF	24 (57)	9 (53)	7 (64)	𝑃=0.83^e
Vascular RFs	26 (62)	13 (76)	6 (55)	𝑃=0.47^e
Cancer	8 (19)	5 (29)	3 (27)	𝑃=0.66^e
Pulmonary disease	8 (19)	3 (18)	1 (9)	𝑃=0.91^e
GI/liver	5 (12)	2 (12)	1 (9)	𝑃=1.0^e
ESRD	6 (14)	3 (18)	0 (0)	𝑃=0.41^e
HIV, hepatitis	3 (7)	1 (6)	0 (0)	𝑃=1.0^e
Substance abuse^d	3 (7)	1 (6)	2 (18)	𝑃=0.48^e
Expired before discharge	13 (31)	16 (94)	6 (55)	𝑃<0.001^e
CPC at discharge
Favorable (1-2)	27 (64)	1 (6)	5 (45)	𝑃<0.001^e
Unfavorable (3–5)	15 (36)	16 (94)	6 (55)
CPC at 6 Months
Favorable (1-2)	19 (45)	0 (0)	3 (27)	𝑃=0.001^e
Unfavorable (3–5)	23 (55)	17 (100)	8 (73)

Values as whole number and (percentage), except in case of continuous variable, given as mean ± standard deviation.
ROSC: return of spontaneous circulation; 1°: primary; VTach, ventricular tachycardia; VFib: ventricular fibrillation; vascular RFs: cardiovascular risk factors.
Values as whole number and (percentage), except in case of continuous variable, given as mean ± standard deviation.
^aData available for 34 of 51 arrests; ^bavailable for 10 of 18 arrests; ^cavailable for 8 of 11 arrests; ^dsubstance abuse includes alcohol abuse; ^eFisher’s exact test; ^fanalysis of variance (ANOVA).