Post-cardiac arrest survival of patients following admission to the intensive care unit - abstract

ABSTRACT

A retrospective study of patients admitted to the Intensibe Care Unit (ICU) at the Uiversity Hospital of the West Indies following a cardiac arrest was undertaken to determine the early and late survival rates. Patient data was collected on forms and inserted in a patient data-base (ICU-DATA) utilising a SWTPC micro-computer system. Pertinent data was retrieved and analysed using the report-writer and sort/merge software programmes respectively. During the 2-year period (1/1/81 to 31/12/82), 51 patient were admitted to the ICU following successful resuscitation of cardiac arrest. There were 32 males and 19 females and their ages ranged from 1 day to 78 years (mean 38.3 years). The secondary diagnosis was as follows- cardiovascular (10), postoperative (8), central nervous system (7), respiratory (6), diabetes (4), renal failure (3), shock (3), anaemia (2), systemic lupus (1), multiple myeloma (1), not recorded (6). Forty (40) patients, i.e 78.4 per cent, died in the ICU. Their duration of stay ranged from 1 hour to 8 days (mean 1.2). The remaining 11 patients who were discharged from the ICU, 5 died on the convalescent wards and 1 at home. Of the remaining 5 survivors, 2 were lost to follow-up. The other 3 patients are doing well. Hence the overall death rate was 90.1 per cent (AU)