Very late effects of cardiac arrest

Abstract

Master thesis, Programme in Medicine TITLE: Very late effects of cardiac arrest AUTHOR: Anna-Eva Andersson 2014 Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Section for clinical neuroscience and rehabilitation, The Sahlgrenska academy, Gothenburg, Sweden Background: Cardiac arrest (CA) is a disease with high morbidity and mortality. Every year 10 000 people in Sweden suffers a cardiac arrest and out of these 10-28% survives. The survivors have a wide range of disabilities but their function more than five years after CA is mostly unknown Aim: To evaluate the life situation, quality of life (QoL) and cognitive abilities in patients suffering a CA and afterwards being treated at Sahlgrenska university hospital, Gothenburg during 1995-1999. Methods: Individuals who had a CA during 1995-1999, were treated at the Sahlgrenska university hospital and who participated in earlier studies of the effects of CA were used to find very long term survivors. The very long term survivors were offered a follow up visit at their home. MMSE and MoCA was used to determine the cognitive abilities and EQ-5D, IPA-E, Barthel, HADS and PCL-C was used to assess the QoL of the participants. Results: 14 out of 104 possible participators had survived to follow up. The median time to follow up in the 8 who accepted participation was 17 years. Out of the 8 participants, 4 failed to reach the cut off score of normal cognitive abilities in the MMSE and 7/8 participants did not reach the cut off score for normal cognitive function in the MoCA. Over all the participants were content with their life situation and QoL. However, a tendency of lower scores on the cognitive testing and a lower self reported QoL was seen. No depression, post traumatic stress disorder or anxiety disorder were found. Conclusions: A CA may lead to lasting cognitive impairments and the risk of dementia may be higher because of the injuries sustained during the CA. However further studies with more participants are needed to fully determine the risk of cognitive impairment due to CA. Regarding QoL, the tendency of lower QoL with lower scores on the cognitive testing may indicate a need for further studies on how to minimize brain damage during a CA and increasing QoL of CA survivors.