Admission C-reactive protein concentrations are associated with unfavourable neurological outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

Whether admission C-reactive protein (aCRP) concentrations are associated with neurological outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is controversial. Based on established kinetics of CRP, we hypothesized that aCRP may reflect the pre-arrest state of health and investigated associations with neurological outcome. Prospectively collected data from the Vienna Clinical Cardiac Arrest Registry of the Department of Emergency Medicine were analysed. Adults (≥ 18 years) who suffered a non-traumatic OHCA between January 2013 and December 2018 with return of spontaneous circulation, but without extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation therapy were eligible. The primary endpoint was a composite of unfavourable neurologic function or death (defined as Cerebral Performance Category 3–5) at 30 days. Associations of CRP levels drawn within 30 min of hospital admission were assessed using binary logistic regression. ACRP concentrations were overall low in our population (n = 832), but higher in the unfavourable outcome group [median: 0.44 (quartiles 0.15–1.44) mg/dL vs. 0.26 (0.11–0.62) mg/dL, p