Long-term functional outcome and quality of life 5-8 years after out of hospital cardiac arrest.

Objective: To determine functional outcomes and quality of life several years post OHCA and identify associated factors. Methods: This is a long-term follow-up sub-study of the TTH48 multicentre trial. OHCA survivors from participating sites were contacted 5-8 years post OHCA. Survival rates were collected from medical registries. Telephone interviews were performed to collect functional outcomes and quality of life. Questionnaires surveyed patients and relatives levels of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, sleep, fatigue, cognitive decline and everyday life participation. Results: 279 patients were included at the participating sites, 161 (58%) were still alive. A vast majority of the participating survivors (97.8%) had favourable outcomes (CPC 1-2) and quality of life was comparable to the background population. Among the participating OHCA survivors, 5.5% met the criteria for anxiety, 2.7% for depression, 4.5% for PTSD, 24.5% reported sleep problems, 45.5% reported fatigue, and 40.7% were working full- or part-time. Among the participating relatives, 7.0% met the criteria for anxiety, 1.2% for depression, 3.5% for PTSD, and 52.3% of the relatives reported that the patient had suffered cognitive decline post OHCA. ROSC delay, higher age, and female sex were negatively associated with several long-term outcomes. Treatment allocation was not associated with better outcomes. Conclusions: Long-term OHCA survivors had acceptable outcomes, though self-reported sleep and fatigue problems and relatives-reported cognitive decline were prevalent. Higher age and longer ROSC delay were risk factors of poorer outcome, primarily driven by mortality. Female sex was a risk factor of worse self-reported outcomes.

Background: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01689077.