Acute cardiac care & resuscitationRandomised controlled trial
Duration of Therapeutic Hypothermia After Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
- Randomised controlled trial
- multicentre
- adaptive-allocation
- response-adaptive randomisation
- bayesian duration-response model
- prespecified stopping rule at interim analysis
Authors' conclusion
Among comatose survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest treated with therapeutic hypothermia at 33 °C, increasing cooling duration did not improve neurological outcomes.
Study context
- Population
- Comatose adults after OHCA reaching target temperature <34 °C within 4 hours, 71 US hospitals, June 2020–June 2025883 nonshockable, 275 shockable
- Participants
- 1,158 adults
- Comparison
- Therapeutic hypothermia at 33 °C for cooling durations of 6 to 72 hours
- Primary endpoint
- Neurological function (weighted modified Rankin Scale score); posterior probability that each duration was optimal (shortest duration consistent with best outcome)
- Follow-up
- 90 days
Primary result
As reported in the abstract
Posterior probability that 6 hours was the shortest duration achieving the maximal mean weighted mRS score
Nonshockable rhythm cohort: posterior probability 6 hours optimal
0.51
Secondary outcomes
Secondary outcomes and mortality
- No differences across cooling durations
Original publication
Duration of Therapeutic Hypothermia After Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. JAMA. Published 5 August 2026. doi:10.1001/jama.2026.10247
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it