Table 1.
Characteristics of the study population, according to neurological outcome at 3 months (complete data are presented in Additional file 2: Additional Table 1)
| ALL (n = 139) |
UO (n = 99) |
FO (n = 40) |
p value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 54 [41–62] | 56 [44–65] | 48 [37–60] | 0.06 |
| Male gender, n (%) | 60 (43) | 45 (45) | 15 (37) | 0.45 |
| Continuous EEG, n (%) | 113 (81) | 84 (85) | 29 (72) | 0.10 |
| Cardiac arrest, n (%) | 86 (62) | 63 (64) | 23 (57) | 0.56 |
| V–A ECMO, n (%) | 98 (71) | 74 (75) | 24 (60) | 0.10 |
| Year of ECMO, n (%) | 0.16 | |||
| 2009–2012 | 34 (25) | 20 (20) | 14 (35) | |
| 2013–2015 | 50 (36) | 39 (40) | 11 (28) | |
| 2016–2018 | 55 (39) | 40 (40) | 15 (37) | |
| Comorbidities | ||||
| COPD/Asthma, n (%) | 18 (13) | 13 (13) | 5 (12) | 1.00 |
| Chronic hemodialysis, n (%) | 18 (13) | 14 (14) | 4 (10) | 0.59 |
| Cirrhosis, n (%) | 6 (4) | 5 (5) | 1 (2) | 0.67 |
| Heart failure (NYHA III-IV), n (%) | 33 (24) | 26 (26) | 6 (15) | 0.19 |
| Immunosuppression, n (%) | 22 (16) | 15 (15) | 7 (17) | 0.80 |
| Cancer, n (%) | 7 (5) | 9 (7) | – | 0.19 |
| Therapies | ||||
| Sedative drugs, n (%) | 132 (95) | 94 (95) | 38 (95) | 1.00 |
| Analgesic drugs, n (%) | 137 (99) | 97 (98) | 40 (100) | 1.00 |
| Antiepileptic drugs, n (%) | 21 (15) | 12 (12) | 9 (22) | 0.19 |
| Complications | ||||
| Stroke/ICH, n (%) | 26 (19) | 23 (23) | 3 (7) | 0.03 |
| Brain death, n (%) | 15 (11) | 15 (15) | – | 0.01 |
| Systemic bleeding, n (%) | 33 (24) | 26 (26) | 7 (17) | 0.38 |
| Outcome variables | ||||
| ICU stay, days | 9 [3–23] | 7 [2–12] | 26 [11–31] | < 0.01 |
| Hospital stay, days | 12 [3–51] | 7 [2–15] | 59 [40–86] | < 0.01 |
| ICU death, n (%) | 90 (65) | 90 (91) | – | < 0.01 |
| Hospital death, n (%) | 91 (65) | 91 (92) | – | < 0.01 |
| GOS at 3 months | 1 [1–4] | 1 [1–1] | 5 [5–5] | < 0.01 |
| EEG findings | ||||
| Seizures /SE | 11 (8) | 9 (9) | 2 (5) | 0.51 |
| GPDs/LPDs | 10 (7) | 8 (8) | 2 (5) | 0.72 |
| Asymmetry | 27 (19) | 19 (19) | 8 (20) | 1.00 |
| Background categories | < 0.001 | |||
| Mild/moderate encephalopathy | 87 (62) | 52 (53) | 35 (87) | |
| Severe encephalopathy | 29 (21) | 24 (24) | 5 (13) | |
| Burst-suppression | 4 (3) | 4 (4) | 0 (0) | |
| Suppressed background | 19 (14) | 19 (19) | 0 (0) |
UO unfavorable outcome, FO favorable outcome, EEG electroencephalography, V-A ECMO veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, NYHA New York Heart Association, ICH intracranial hemorrhage, ICU Intensive Care Unit, GOS Glasgow Outcome Scale, SE status epilepticus, GPDs generalized periodic discharges, LPDs lateralized periodic discharges