Morbidity of Cardiac Arrest in the Very Elderly

Abstract

The objective of this retrospective cohort study was to assess mortality and morbidity after cardiac arrest in hospital inpatients aged 80 years or older, in an Australian tertiary hospital. We studied patients aged 80 years or older who suffered an in-hospital cardiac arrest from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2016. The main outcome measures were one-year survival and narrative morbidity. Two hundred and eighty-five patients were identified. Absolute one-year survival after cardiac arrest was, at best, 12.6%. Narrative descriptions of morbidity demonstrate high healthcare utilisation, dependency or residential care, and significant impairments of physical and social function. In conclusion, one-year survival after cardiac arrest in the very elderly is poor. In those who survive, significant morbidity is present.