Acute cardiac care & resuscitation
Does time heal fatigue, psychological, cognitive and disability problems in people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest? Results from the DANCAS survey study
Authors' conclusion
Up to a third of survivors report fatigue, anxiety, depression, reduced mental function and disability 1-5 years after OHCA.
Study context
- Population
- Adult out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survivors in Denmark 2016–2019 (Danish Cardiac Arrest Registry), surveyed Oct 2020–Mar 202160 % of 2116 eligible responded
- Participants
- 1,258 survivors
- Exposure
- Time since OHCA: 12-24 vs 25-36 vs 37-48 vs 49-56 months
- Outcome
- Fatigue (Modified Fatigue Impact Scale), anxiety and depression (HADS), everyday activities and mental recovery ("Two simple questions"), disability (12-item WHODAS 2.0)
- Follow-up
- 1-5 years post-OHCA
Methodological detailsnationwide survey, registry-based
- Nationwide survey
- Registry-based
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Proportion of survivors with problems (overall)
- Fatigue
- 29 %
- Anxiety
- 20 %
- Depression
- 15 %
- Disability
- 27 %
- No significant difference in mean scores or proportions between time groups
- p = 0.28 to 0.88
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Original publication
Does time heal fatigue, psychological, cognitive and disability problems in people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest? Results from the DANCAS survey study. Resuscitation. Published 29 November 2022. doi:10.
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it