Perioperative medicine & outcomes
Perioperative cardiac arrest and the impact of surgical timing: a nationwide cohort study
Authors' conclusion
In this nationwide study, PO-CA was rare, with over half of affected patients surviving beyond 30 days. Although crude incidence appeared higher out of hours in non-cardiothoracic, non-obstetric emergency surgery, this pattern likely reflects greater patient complexity rather than out-of-hours circumstances per se.
Study context
- Population
- Adults (≥18 years) in the Swedish Perioperative Register, 2019–2023; timing analysis in non-cardiothoracic, non-obstetric emergency surgery
- Participants
- 1,568,877 procedures
- Exposure
- Out-of-hours vs office-hours surgery
- Outcome
- Perioperative cardiac arrest (PO-CA: cardiac arrest in the operating theatre or PACU)
Methodological detailsnationwide, mixed-effects logistic regression
- Nationwide
- Mixed-effects logistic regression
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
PO-CA, non-cardiothoracic, non-obstetric emergency surgery
Out of hours vs Office hoursEstimate (95 % CI)
PO-CA, non-cardiothoracic, non-obstetric emergency surgery
crude OR 1.31(1.00–1.70)
Adjusted for sex, age, comorbidities, ASA class and case urgency
adjusted OR 1.13(0.86–1.48)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Perioperative cardiac arrest (PO-CA) incidence and 30-day mortality (all procedures)
- PO-CA cases
- 395
- In operating theatre
- 314
- In post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU)
- 81
- Crude incidence
- 2.5/10,000 procedures
- 30-day mortality after PO-CA
- 42.5 %
Original publication
Perioperative cardiac arrest and the impact of surgical timing: a nationwide cohort study. Resuscitation. Published 23 July 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →