Characteristics and outcome of patients with hypothermic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: Experience from a European trauma center

Aim of the study was to investigate patient characteristics, survival rates and neurological outcome among hypothermic patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) admitted to a trauma center. A review of patients with OHCA and a core temperature ≤32°C admitted to a trauma center between 2004 and 2016. Ninety-six patients (mean temperature 25.8°C±3.9°C) were entered in the study, 37 (39%) of them after avalanche burial. 47% showed return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) prior to hospital admission. Survival with Glasgow-Pittsburgh Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) scale 1 or 2 was achieved in 25% of all patients and was higher in non-avalanche than in avalanche cases (35.6% vs 8.1%, p=0.002). Witnessed cardiac arrest was the most powerful predictor of favourable neurological outcome (RR: 10.8; 95% Confidence Interval: 3.2–37.1; Wald: 14.3; p