Time to Meds Matters for Patients with Cardiac Arrest Due to Nonshockable Rhythms
Clinical question: Is earlier administration of epinephrine in patients with cardiac arrest due to nonshockable rhythms associated with increased return of spontaneous circulation, survival, and neurologically intact survival?
Background: About 200,000 hospitalized patients in the U.S. have a cardiac arrest, commonly due to nonshockable rhythms. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation has been the only efficacious intervention. There are no well-controlled trials of the use of epinephrine on survival and neurological outcomes.
Study design: Prospective cohort from a large multicenter registry of in-hospital cardiac arrests.
Setting: Data from 570 hospitals from 2000 to 2009.
Synopsis: Authors included 25,095 adults from 570 hospitals who had cardiac arrests in hospital with asystole or pulseless electrical activity as the initial rhythm. Time to first administration of epinephrine was recorded and then separated into quartiles, and odds ratios were evaluated using one to three minutes as the reference group. Outcomes of survival to hospital discharge (10%), return of spontaneous circulation (47%), and survival to hospital discharge with favorable neurologic status (7%) were assessed.
Survival to discharge decreased as the time to administration of the first dose of epinephrine increased. Of those patients receiving epinephrine in one minute, 12% survived. This dropped to 7% for those first receiving epinephrine after seven minutes. Return of spontaneous circulation and survival to discharge with favorable neurologic status showed a similar stepwise decrease with longer times to first administration of epinephrine.
Bottom line: Earlier administration of epinephrine to patients with cardiac arrest due to nonshockable rhythms is associated with improved survival to discharge, return of spontaneous circulation, and neurologically intact survival.
Citation: Donnino MW, Salciccioli JD, Howell MD, et al. Time to administration of epinephrine and outcome after in-hospital cardiac arrest with non-shockable rhythms: restrospective analysis of large in-hospital data registry. BMJ. 2014;348:g3028.
