Association between inflammatory markers and survival in comatose, resuscitated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients

Abstract

Objectives: Prognostication after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) remains challenging. The inflammatory response after OHCA has been associated with increased mortality. This study investigates the associations and predictive value between inflammatory markers and outcome in resuscitated OHCA patients. Design: The study is based on post hoc analyses of a double-blind controlled trial, where resuscitated OHCA patients were randomized to receive either exenatide or placebo. Blood was analyzed for levels of inflammatory markers the day following admission. Primary endpoint was time to death for up to 180 days. Secondary endpoints included 180-day mortality and poor neurological outcome after 180 days, defined as a cerebral performance category (CPC) of 3 to 5. Results: Among 110 included patients we found significant associations between higher leucocyte quartile and increasing mortality in univariable analysis (OR 2.6 (95%CI 1.6–4.2), p