Factors Determining Survival in Patients with Cardiac Arrest

One hundred and fifty documented episodes of cardiac arrest were reviewed in 137 unselected patients hospitalized in a general hospital. Mental confusion (87 percent) and tachypnea (55 percent) were early warning signs. In 18 percent of patients, respiratory arrest preceded cardiac arrest. Ventricular fibrillation and cardiac standstill were the most common electrocardiographic mechanisms of arrest but none of the patients with ventricular asystole ultimately survived. Although 48 padents were successfully resuscitated after the first episode of cardiac arrest, only 14 (10 percent) were permanent survivors. There were no permanent survivors after resuscitation in patients who had a second episode of cardiac arrest.