Acute cardiac care & resuscitation
Management of comatose survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Europe: current treatment practice and adherence to guidelines. A joint survey by the Association for Acute CardioVascular Care (ACVC) of the ESC, the European Resuscitation Council (ERC), the European Society for Emergency Medicine (EUSEM), and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM)
An erratum to this article was published (Eur Heart J Acute Cardiovasc Care, 9 Feb 2023 ↗)
Authors' conclusion
Post-resuscitation care is not well established and varies among centres in European hospitals. Cardiac arrest centres have a higher coherence with guidelines compared with respondents from non-cardiac arrest centres.
Study context
- Population
- European hospital units managing comatose out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survivors252 answers received
- Participants
- 237 participants
- Exposure
- Cardiac arrest centres vs Non-cardiac arrest centres
- Cardiac arrest centresn = 166
- Outcome
- Adherence to guidelines and disparities in post-resuscitation treatment of OHCA
Methodological detailsweb-based survey, multi-institutional, multinational, Questionnaire disseminated via email, social media, websites and newsletters in June 2021
- Web-based survey
- Multi-institutional
- Multinational
- Questionnaire disseminated via email, social media, websites and newsletters in June 2021
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- Noradrenaline as first-line vasopressor
- 195 (83%)
- Dobutamine as first-line inotrope
- 148 (64%)
- Echocardiography available 24/7
- 204 (87%)
- Targeted temperature management used (shockable rhythm)
- 160 (75%)
- Target temperature 32–34°C preferred
- 46 centres (21%)
- Target temperature 34–36°C preferred
- 103 centres (52%)
- Target temperature <37.5°C preferred
- 35 (16%)
- Follow-up at 3 months after discharge
- 71 (30%)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Invasive or external cooling methods with feedback
P < 0.0003
Original publication
Management of comatose survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Europe: current treatment practice and adherence to guidelines. A joint survey by the Association for Acute CardioVascular Care (ACVC) of the ESC, the European Resuscitation Council (ERC), the European Society for Emergency Medicine (EUSEM), and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM). Eur Heart J Acute Cardiovasc Care. Published 2 December 2022. doi:10.
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it