The survival of COVID-19 patients who have experienced cardiac arrest is similar to pre-pandemic rates

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.November 20, 2020

It is not a death sentence if a COVID-19 patient suffers cardiac arrest while receiving treatment for the virus in hospital, according to new research that contradicts reports since the start of the pandemic. New insight from a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine still shows that such events remain deadly, but may have survived at a rate likely close to what it was among other hospitalized patients before the outbreak of the pandemic. This analysis was presented at the American Heart Association’s annual scientific meeting this month.

Early studies showed extremely low rates of COVID-19 patients who were successfully resuscitated and continued to survive after suffering from cardiac arrest. The first Wuhan study showed only a 2.9% 30-day survival rate, and a second small cohort from New York City showed absolutely no survival. These findings, of course, raised concerns that offering CPR to these patients was leading nowhere and may have simply exposed hospital staff to the virus. But our results showed that survival with good neurological status is very possible if CPR is attempted. “

Oscar Mitchell, MD, Fellow in Pulmonary and Intensive Care Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital and the Center for Resuscitation Science

Looking at data between March and the end of May 2020 in 11 different hospitals in the United States, Mitchell and his fellow researchers identified 260 patients with COVID-19 who suffered cardiac arrest – a complete loss of heart rhythm – while in hospital. for the Cure. During that time, the data showed that 22 percent of those patients were able to be resuscitated. After cardiac arrests, 12% of patients survived the events for at least one month, a standard indicator for mortality when looking for adverse health events.

Overall, successful resuscitation rates were still about a third of what they were before COVID-19, and 30-day survival numbers were half as high. However, these rates may have been skewed by the variation in hospital outcomes.

The New York City hospitals included in the study treated the lion’s share of patients (204). However, the successful resuscitation rate for New York patients was 11% compared to 64% in other hospitals. Furthermore, the 30-day survival rate was 6% in New York compared to 36% elsewhere. As such, the numbers of non-New York hospitals were, in fact, just in line with what could be expected of other hospital patients who had suffered cardiac arrest prior to COVID.

“What this shows is that these patients have a similar survival rate to what it was before the pandemic,” said one of the study’s senior researchers, Benjamin Abella, MD, professor of emergency medicine. “It proves that our regular means of treating cardiac arrest in hospital can still be effective in COVID-19 patients and we should consider it as something that is eminently survivable.”

The difference in numbers based on location may have been a result of differences in circumstances at each site, the researchers speculated.

“The COVID-19 pandemic strains on hospital resources may have amplified variations in things like cardiac arrest detection, how patients were managed during cardiac arrest and post-event care,” he said. Mitchell.