ORLANDO, FL--Hospitalized patients suffering cardiac arrest at night are more likely to have poor neurological outcome, compared to day time patients, according researcher presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2015.
Researchers studied information about patients’ survivals after in-hospital cardiac arrest at a teaching hospital in Switzerland. They documented that the hospital’s rapid response team was activated for 270 patients with cardiac arrest. Two-thirds of those cardiac arrests occurred during the day shift.
While rapid response team’s reaction times for cardiac arrest were similar during the day and at night, researchers found patients having the cardiac arrests during the day were:
- More likely to be witnessed and have an initial shockable rhythm.
- More likely to show more favorable neurological outcome than nighttime patients.
Researchers suggest that a delayed recognition of night-time cardiac arrest might explain the poorer neurological conditions of patients after cardiac arrest during the night.
Author: Luca Marengo, M.D.; University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
SOURCE: American Heart Association