Importance of comorbidities in comatose survivors of shockable and non-shockable out-of-hospital cardiac arrest treated with target temperature management

AbstractObjective. Comorbidityprior to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and primary rhythmin relation to survival is not well established. We aimed to assess the prognostic importance of comorbidityin relation to primary rhythmin OHCA-patients treated with Target Temperature Management(TTM). Design. Consecutive comatose survivors of OHCA treated with TTM in hospitals in the Copenhagen area between 2002–2011 were included. Utstein-based pre- and in-hospital data collection was performed. Data on comorbiditywas obtained from The Danish National Patient Register and patient charts, assessed by the Charlson ComorbidityIndex (CCI). Results. A total of 666 patients were included. A third (n = 233, 35%) presented with non-shockable rhythm, and they were less often male (64% vs. 82%, p < .001), and OHCA in public, witnessed OHCA, and bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) were less common compared to patients with a shockable primary rhythm(public: 27% vs. 48%, p < .001, witnessed: 79% vs. 90%...