Age-related cognitive bias in in-hospital cardiac arrest

Abstract

AimsCognitive bias has been recognized as a potential source of medical error as it may affect clinical decision making. In this study, we explored how cognitive bias, specifically left-digit bias, may affect patient outcomes in in-hospital cardiac arrest. MethodsUsing the Get With The Guidelines® – Resuscitation registry, we included adult patients with an in-hospital cardiac arrest from 2011 to 2019. The primary outcome was survival to hospital discharge. Secondary outcomes included return of spontaneous circulation, favorable neurological outcome, and duration of resuscitation. Using a regression discontinuity design, we explored whether there was a sudden change in survival at the age threshold of 80 years which would indicate left-digit bias. Additional analyses were performed at age thresholds of 60, 70, and 90 years. ResultsA total of 26,784 patients were included for the primary analysis. The overall survival was 22% in this cohort. There was no discontinuity of survival below and above the age of 80 years (risk difference, 0.47%; 95%CI, −1.61% to 2.56%). Similar results were estimated for the secondary outcomes and for the age thresholds of 60, 70, and 90 years. The results were consistent in sensitivity analyses. ConclusionsThere was no indication that cognitive bias based on age affected outcomes in in-hospital cardiac arrest in these data.