HRQoL consistently high for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors

For survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, long-term health-related quality of life is consistently high up to 20 years after the event, according to a study published online Sept. 13 in JAMA Cardiology.

Harman Yonis, M.D., from Nordsjællands Hospital in Hillerød, Denmark, and colleagues used the EuroQol Health Questionnaire (EQ index), 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to assess the health-related quality of life of 4,545 adult survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest included in the Danish Cardiac Arrest Registry between June 1, 2001, and Aug. 31, 2019, who were alive in October 2020. The survey was completed by 56.1 percent of survivors, with a median follow-up of 5.5 years since their event.

The researchers found that the median EQ index score was 0.9 for both the shortest follow-up (zero to one year) and longest follow-up (>15 to 20 years) groups. The mean SF-12 physical and mental health scores were 43.3 and 52.9, respectively, for all responders. All three scores were similar to those from a general Danish reference population. Based on HADS scores, a low risk for anxiety was reported by 73.0 and 89.3 percent of the shortest and longest follow-up groups, respectively; these proportions were 79.7 and 87.5 percent, respectively, for symptoms of depression. In survivors across all follow-up periods, health-related quality of life was similar.

"These findings support resource allocation and efforts targeted to increasing survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.