Impact of acute kidney injury on neurological outcome and long-term survival after cardiac arrest – A 10 year observational follow up

Abstract Background Acute kidney injury (AKI) may be associated with short- and long-term patient morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the impact of AKI after cardiac arrest on survival and neurologicaloutcome was evaluated. Methods An observational single center study was conducted and consecutively included all out and in hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA/IHCA) patients treated with therapeutic temperature management between 2006 and 2013. Patient morbidity, mortality and neurologicaloutcome according to the widely used Pittsburgh Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) were assessed. A good neurologicaloutcome was defined as a CPC of 1–2 versus a poor neurologicaloutcome with a CPC of 3–5. AKI was defined by using the KDIGO Guidelines 2012. Results 503 patients were observed in total. 29.4% (n = 148) developed AKI during their intensive care unit (ICU) stay. 70.6% (n = 355) did not experience AKI. The mean age at admission was 62 years, of those 72.8% were male and 77% experienced an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). AKI occurred with 41.2% more often in the group with poor neurologicaloutcome compared to 17.1% in the group with good neurologicaloutcome. The median survival for patients after cardiac arrest with AKI was 0.07 years compared to 6.5 years for patients without AKI. Conclusion Our data suggest that AKI is a major risk factor for a poor neurologicaloutcome and a higher mortality after cardiac arrest. Further important risk factors were age, time to ROSC and high NSE.