Timing of Cardiac Arrest

According to an article written by Robert Preidt of the HealthDay Reporter, the timing of a cardiac arrest may affect survival.  These rates are rising for people who have cardiac arrest while they are in the hospital, according to a study.  If a cardiac arrest would happen at night or on a weekend, your possibility of dying is greater than if it happens on a weekday.

Surviving when having a cardiac arrest on “off-hours” has a nearly 4% odds of survival than for people who have cardiac arrest in the daytime during the week.

Heart attack and cardiac arrest are not the same thing.  In a heart attack the blood flow to the heart is blocked because of a circulation problem.  American Heart Association (AHA) also states that cardiac arrest, on the other hand, occurs when the heart malfunctions and unexpectedly stops beating.  They describe this as an electrical problem.

An analysis of data from 2000 through 2014 on more than 151,000 adults who had a cardiac arrest while hospitalized in the United States was studied.  The overall survival rates during that time period until discharged from the hospital, increased from 16% to 25% for those having a cardiac arrest on a weekday.  The survival rates were also improved from nearly 12% to 22% for those with an off-hours cardiac arrest, but that was 3.8% lower than those patients whose cardiac arrest occurred during a weekday.

About 200,000 people experience cardiac arrest each year while in a U.S. hospital, according to the study authors.  Of the in-hospital cardiac arrests, nearly 50% take place during off-hours.  If we can determine how survival has changed in recent years, it might be possible to identify the opportunities for quality improvement efforts, according to the study’s lead author, Dr. Uchenna Ofoma.  This was stated in a news release from the American College of Cardiology.

Their belief is that we can improve survival for cardiac arrests that occur during the off-hours, it might impact a substantial number of patients.  Ofoma is an attending physician with the division of critical care medicine at the Geisinger Health System in Danville, Penn.  Their study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Dr Fredda Branyon