Cardiac arrest & resuscitation
Neuropsychological outcome after cardiac arrest: results from a sub-study of the targeted hypothermia versus targeted normothermia after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (TTM2) trial
An erratum to this article was published (Crit Care, 29 Jul 2026 ↗)
Authors' conclusion
In our study population, cognitive impairment was generally mild following OHCA. OHCA survivors performed worse than MI controls in 3 of 6 domains.
Study context
- Population
- Adult out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survivors at 8 TTM2 sites in Sweden, Denmark and the UK; matched acute myocardial infarction (MI) controls184 eligible OHCA survivors
- Participants
- 108 vs 92
- Comparison
- OHCA survivors vs matched acute MI controls
- OHCAn = 108
- MIn = 92reference
- Primary endpoint
- Cognitive performance on an extensive neuropsychological test battery
- Follow-up
- ≈7 months post-event
Methodological detailsmatched controls, multicentre
- Matched controls
- Multicentre
Primary result
As reported in the abstract
approximately 7 months
MD
- 0.37
95% CI - 0.61, - 0.12
episodic memory
MD
- 0.34
95% CI - 0.62, - 0.07
verbal functions
MD
- 0.26
95% CI - 0.47, - 0.04
visual/constructive functions
Further findings
| Outcome | MD (CI) |
|---|---|
| Executive functions, additionally adjusted for anxiety, depression, fatigue, insomnia, hypertension and diabetes | - 0.44 (- 0.82, - 0.06) |
Cognitive impairment among OHCA survivors
- Z-score ≤ - 1 in ≥ 2 cognitive domains
- 29%
- Z-score ≤ - 2 in ≥ 1 cognitive domain
- 14%
- No impairment in any domain
- 54%
- Impairment most pronounced in episodic memory, executive functions and processing speed
Factors associated with cognitive performance
- Diabetes, symptoms of anxiety, depression and fatigue significantly associated with worse cognitive performance
Original publication
Neuropsychological outcome after cardiac arrest: results from a sub-study of the targeted hypothermia versus targeted normothermia after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (TTM2) trial. Crit Care. Published 26 August 2023. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →