Table 1.
Characteristics of 1613 patients with IHCA during the COVID-19 pandemic
| Variables | No infection COVID – |
Ongoing infection COVID + |
Unknown/NA UNA |
SMD |
| n | 1062 | 182 | 369 | |
| Demographics: | ||||
| Age—mean (SD) | 71.00 (13.32) | 70.93 (12.43) | 70.22 (13.60) | 0.039 |
| Woman—n (%) | 388 (36.6) | 68 (37.6) | 151 (41.0) | 0.061 |
| Location of cardiac arrest—n (%) | 0.527 | |||
| Coronary care unit—n (%) | 155 (14.6) | 14 (7.7) | 50 (13.6) | |
| Intensive care unit—n (%) | 77 (7.3) | 25 (13.7) | 19 (5.1) | |
| Operational room—n (%) | 22 (2.1) | 0 (0.0) | 12 (3.3) | |
| Emergency room—n (%) | 139 (13.1) | 29 (15.9) | 65 (17.6) | |
| Outpatient lab, radiology—n (%) | 49 (4.6) | 7 (3.8) | 28 (7.6) | |
| Cathlab—n (%) | 98 (9.2) | 8 (4.4) | 60 (16.3) | |
| Intermediate care unit—n (%) | 25 (2.4) | 15 (8.2) | 10 (2.7) | |
| Regular ward—n (%) | 468 (44.1) | 82 (45.1) | 116 (31.4) | |
| Other—n (%) | 29 (2.7) | 2 (1.1) | 9 (2.4) | |
| Critical times—median (IQR): | ||||
| Time to alert—median (IQR) | 1.00(1.00, 1.00) | 1.00(1.00, 1.00) | 1.00(1.00, 1.00) | 0.078 |
| Time to CPR—median (IQR) | 0.00(0.00, 1.00) | 0.00(0.00, 0.00) | 0.00(0.00, 1.00) | 0.109 |
| Time to defibrillation—median (IQR) | 2.00(1.00, 5.00) | 2.00(1.00, 4.75) | 1.00(1.00, 4.00) | 0.141 |
| Comorbidities—n (%): | ||||
| MI, ongoing—n (%) | 178 (23.6) | 12 (12.0) | 37 (29.4) | 0.292 |
| MI, previous—n (%) | 163 (20.8) | 13 (11.7) | 26 (18.4) | 0.165 |
| Stroke, ongoing—n (%) | 30 (3.8) | 4 (3.7) | 4 (3.0) | 0.030 |
| Stroke, previous—n (%) | 82 (10.3) | 7 (6.1) | 15 (10.5) | 0.105 |
| Cancer, any—n (%) | 165 (20.9) | 20 (17.7) | 28 (20.6) | 0.054 |
| Diabetes—n (%) | 224 (27.9) | 36 (31.0) | 38 (27.0) | 0.060 |
| Heart failure—n (%) | 229 (29.7) | 36 (33.0) | 36 (27.9) | 0.074 |
| Ejection fraction (EF) (%)—mean (SD) | 46.14 (13.74) | 46.44 (11.86) | 44.94 (14.82) | 0.073 |
| EF <50% n (%) | 167 (46.0) | 26 (48.1) | 22 (46.8) | 0.029 |
| Kidney function category - n (%) | 0.121 | |||
| eGFR <30 n (%) | 165 (21.6) | 22 (20.0) | 26 (20.0) | |
| eGFR 30–59 n (%) | 216 (28.3) | 32 (29.1) | 44 (33.8) | |
| eGFR 60–89 n (%) | 198 (25.9) | 25 (22.7) | 30 (23.1) | |
| eGFR ≥90 n (%) | 185 (24.2) | 31 (28.2) | 30 (23.1) | |
| No kidney failure (eGFR ≥60)—n (%) | 383 (50.1) | 56 (50.9) | 60 (46.2) | 0.063 |
| eGFR (mL/min/m2)—mean (SD) | 66.89 (49.43) | 71.26 (58.96) | 63.78 (40.31) | 0.099 |
| Cause of arrest—n (%) | 0.629 | |||
| Haemorrhage—n (%) | 34 (4.9) | 2 (2.0) | 10 (8.1) | |
| Myocardial infarction/ischaemia—n (%) | 181 (26.2) | 15 (14.9) | 41 (33.3) | |
| Other—n (%) | 213 (30.8) | 30 (29.7) | 41 (33.3) | |
| Primary arrhythmia—n (%) | 101 (14.6) | 8 (7.9) | 12 (9.8) | |
| Respiratory insufficiency—n (%) | 73 (10.5) | 24 (23.8) | 7 (5.7) | |
| Sepsis/infection—n (%) | 45 (6.5) | 19 (18.8) | 4 (3.3) | |
| Stroke/thromboembolism—n (%) | 45 (6.5) | 3 (3.0) | 8 (6.5) | |
| Early interventions—n (%): | ||||
| Witnessed arrest—n (%) | 857 (80.9) | 140 (77.8) | 306 (85.0) | 0.124 |
| ECG monitoring—n (%) | 635 (60.5) | 89 (50.0) | 221 (62.1) | 0.163 |
| CPR before AGA - n (%) | 845 (91.0) | 146 (93.6) | 268 (88.2) | 0.127 |
| Defibrillated before AGA—n (%) | 159 (17.9) | 18 (11.9) | 53 (19.0) | 0.131 |
| Ventilated before AGA—n (%) | 503 (63.2) | 74 (54.8) | 175 (69.2) | 0.199 |
| Shockable rhythm—n (%) | 247 (24.9) | 29 (17.3) | 90 (27.0) | 0.158 |
| Defibrillated, any—n (%) | 323 (31.5) | 40 (22.7) | 111 (32.8) | 0.151 |
| Intubated—n (%) | 473 (47.0) | 100 (57.8) | 177 (53.8) | 0.145 |
| Epinephrine given—n (%) | 668 (65.6) | 125 (72.7) | 223 (66.4) | 0.102 |
| Antiarrhythmics—n (%) | 139 (14.1) | 17 (10.1) | 48 (15.4) | 0.107 |
| Mechanical compressions—n (%) | 109 (10.8) | 18 (10.4) | 66 (20.0) | 0.180 |
| Active temperature control—n (%) | 54 (11.3) | 5 (10.4) | 3 (4.4) | 0.173 |
| Status at rescue team arrival—n (%): | ||||
| Consciousness—n (%) | 214 (23.1) | 18 (11.7) | 57 (19.3) | 0.204 |
| Breathing—n (%) | 288 (31.2) | 30 (19.5) | 84 (28.7) | 0.181 |
| Pulse—n (%) | 309 (33.8) | 36 (23.4) | 89 (30.4) | 0.154 |
| Follow-up data—n (%) | ||||
| Angiography—n (%) | 115 (24.2) | 8 (16.7) | 15 (20.8) | 0.124 |
| PCI—n (%) | 87 (18.2) | 4 (8.3) | 16 (21.9) | 0.258 |
| Pacemaker implanted—n (%) | 80 (16.7) | 2 (4.2) | 4 (5.6) | 0.281 |
| ICD implanted—n (%) | 36 (7.5) | 1 (2.1) | 2 (2.8) | 0.172 |
| ROSC—n (%) | 520 (49.0) | 64 (35.2) | 142 (38.5) | 0.188 |
| Death at 30 days—n (%) | 666 (62.7) | 141 (77.5) | 237 (64.2) | 0.218 |
| Death overall—n (%) | 703 (66.2) | 141 (77.5) | 241 (65.3) | 0.181 |
SMD (difference between the means for the two groups divided by their mutual SD. Values below 0.1 (10%) are considered inconsequential (ie, no significant difference between the groups)).
AGA, alarm group arrival; CPR, cardiopulmonary resuscitation; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; ICD, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator; IHCA, in-hospital cardiac arrest; PCI, percutaneous coronary intervention; ROSC, return of spontaneous circulation; SMD, standardised mean difference; UNA, unknown/not assessed.