Abstract

Cardiac arrest (CA) often results in multi-system organ failure (MSOF). The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) Score is a tool based on the assessment of 6 physiological systems and can quantify severity of MSOF. Understanding the epidemiology, temporal dynamics and anticipated course of MSOF after CA is critical to both clinical care and prognostication. We included patients treated at a single center after CA from 2010-2019, regardless of arrest location or etiology. We electronically extracted all medication, laboratory, ventilator, intake and output data. We calculated SOFA scores daily for up to five days (or until death or discharge). We used group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM, also known as growth curve mixture modeling) to identify groups of patients with distinct trajectories of SOFA over time. We started by fitting trajectories with third order polynomials then sequentially eliminated higher order terms with non-significant coefficients. We used AIC and BIC to determine the number of groups. We included 2,740 patients, of whom most (1,633; 59%) were male, with mean (SD) age of 59 (16) years. Most arrests (2,106; 76%) occurred out-of-hospital and 837 (30%) had a shockable initial rhythm. Overall survival to discharge was 38%. Bilirubin was infrequently checked in this cohort, so we excluded the liver subscale of SOFA from total SOFA calculation making maximum SOFA 20. Mean presenting SOFA was 6 (3), and mean SOFA on day 2 was 6 (4). We identified 5 groups of patients with unique trajectories of SOFA over time. Baseline demographics and survival differed across trajectory groups. Despite showing delayed MOSF onset with rapidly rising SOFA from baseline to day 2, 26% of Group 4 still survived to discharge, while Group 3, which had an initially severe but rapidly improving MSOF had a 32% survival rate. Unique patterns of MSOF after CA can be identified using GBTM. Delayed onset of severe MSOF is less prognostically ominous than commonly believed by clinicians.

Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call