Hypothermia versus Normothermia after Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest.

BACKGROUND: Targeted temperature management is recommended for patients after cardiac arrest, but the supporting evidence is of low certainty. METHODS: In an open-label trial with blinded assessment of outcomes, we randomly assigned 1900 adults with coma who had had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest of presumed cardiac or unknown cause to undergo targeted hypothermia at 33°C, followed by controlled rewarming, or targeted normothermia with early treatment of fever (body temperature, ≥37.8°C). The primary outcome was death from any cause at 6 months. Secondary outcomes included functional outcome at 6 months as assessed with the modified Rankin scale. Prespecified subgroups were defined according to sex, age, initial cardiac rhythm, time to return of spontaneous circulation, and presence or absence of shock on admission. Prespecified adverse events were pneumonia, sepsis, bleeding, arrhythmia resulting in hemodynamic compromise, and skin complications related to the temperature management device. RESULTS: A total of 1850 patients were evaluated for the primary outcome. At 6 months, 465 of 925 patients (50%) in the hypothermia group had died, as compared with 446 of 925 (48%) in the normothermia group (relative risk with hypothermia, 1.04; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.94 to 1.14; P = 0.37). Of the 1747 patients in whom the functional outcome was assessed, 488 of 881 (55%) in the hypothermia group had moderately severe disability or worse (modified Rankin scale score ≥4), as compared with 479 of 866 (55%) in the normothermia group (relative risk with hypothermia, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.92 to 1.09). Outcomes were consistent in the prespecified subgroups. Arrhythmia resulting in hemodynamic compromise was more common in the hypothermia group than in the normothermia group (24% vs. 17%, P<0.001). The incidence of other adverse events did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with coma after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, targeted hypothermia did not lead to a lower incidence of death by 6 months than targeted normothermia. (Funded by the Swedish Research Council and others; TTM2 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02908308.).

Stroke Admissions, Stroke Severity, and Treatment Rates in Urban and Rural Areas During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Many regions worldwide reported a decline of stroke admissions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. It remains unclear whether urban and rural regions experienced similar declines and whether deviations from historical admission numbers were more pronounced among specific age, stroke severity or treatment groups. Methods: We used registry datasets from (a) nine acute stroke hospitals in Berlin, and (b) nine hospitals from a rural TeleNeurology network in Northeastern Germany for primary analysis of 3-week-rolling average of stroke/TIA admissions before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We compared course of stroke admission numbers with regional cumulative severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (Sars-CoV-2) infections. In secondary analyses, we used emergency department logs of the Berlin Charité University hospital to investigate changes in age, stroke severity, and thrombolysis/thrombectomy frequencies during the early regional Sars-CoV-2 spread (March and April 2020) and compared them with preceding years. Results: Compared to past years, stroke admissions decreased by 20% in urban and 20-25% in rural hospitals. Deviations from historical averages were observable starting in early March and peaked when numbers of regional Sars-CoV-2 infections were still low. At the same time, average admission stroke severity and proportions of moderate/severe strokes (NIHSS >5) were 20 and 20-40% higher, respectively. There were no relevant deviations observed in proportions of younger patients (<65 years), proportions of patients with thrombolysis, or number of thrombectomy procedures. Stroke admissions at Charité subsequently rebounded and reached near-normal levels after 4 weeks when the number of new Sars-CoV-2 infections started to decrease. Conclusions: During the early pandemic, deviations of stroke-related admissions from historical averages were observed in both urban and rural regions of Northeastern Germany and appear to have been mainly driven by avoidance of admissions of mildly affected stroke patients.