Cardiac arrest & resuscitation
Critical Illness Related Cardiac Arrest (CIRCA): a prospective investigation of the incidence and outcome of cardiac arrest within intensive care units in the United Kingdom
Authors' conclusion
Cardiac arrest is common in ICUs and carries high mortality, although pandemic-related study disruption reduces the certainty in our results.
Study context
- Population
- Adults in 93 United Kingdom (UK) Intensive Care Units (ICUs)726 with in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA)
- Participants
- 53,620 adults
- Outcome
- Incidence proportion of in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) in the ICU
Methodological detailsmulticentre, data linkage to two national clinical audits, Recruitment period adapted to accommodate the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Multicentre
- Data linkage to two national clinical audits
- Recruitment period adapted to accommodate the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Incidence proportion of IHCA in ICU
Incidence proportion
1.4 %
95 % CI 1.3–1.5 %
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Survival after IHCA in ICU
%
- Survival to ICU discharge
- 35.4
- Survival to hospital discharge
- 29.6
- Survival to 12 months
- 18.7
Risk factors for IHCA in ICU
- Male sex, non-white or not stated ethnicity, CPR within 24 h before ICU admission and source of/reason for ICU admission associated with increased risk
- Logistic regression
Survival to hospital discharge among those with return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC)
- Increasing age, COVID-19 and increasing duration of resuscitation attempt associated with lower probability of survival
Quality of life in survivors
- Survivors had a reduced quality of life
Original publication
Critical Illness Related Cardiac Arrest (CIRCA): a prospective investigation of the incidence and outcome of cardiac arrest within intensive care units in the United Kingdom. Resuscitation. Published 22 December 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →