Younger age is associated with higher levels of self-reported affective and cognitive sequelae six months post-cardiac arrest.

BACKGROUND

Affective and cognitive sequelae are frequently reported in cardiac arrest survivors; however, little is known about the risk factors. We assessed the hypothesis that self-reported affective and cognitive sequelae six months after OHCA may be associated with demography, acute care and cerebral outcome.

METHODS

This is a sub-study of the multicentre "Target Temperature Management for 48 vs. 24 h and Neurologic Outcome after Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Randomised Clinical Trial" (the TTH48 trial) investigating the effect of prolonged TTM at 33 ± 1 °C. We invited patients with good outcome on the Cerebral Performances Categories (CPC score ≤ 2) to answer questionnaires on anxiety, depression, emotional distress, perceived stress and cognitive failures six months post OHCA.

RESULTS

In total 79 of 111 eligible patients were included in the analysis. There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between the included group and the group lost to follow-up. Younger age was a negative predictor across all self-reported outcomes, even when controlling for gender, ROSC time, treatment allocation, cognitive impairment and global outcome (CPC 1 or 2). Female gender was a predictor of anxiety, though this should be interpreted cautiously as only eight women participated. A CPC score of 2 score was a negative predictor of self-reported affective outcomes, albeit not for self-reported cognitive failures.

CONCLUSION

Younger age was associated with higher levels of self-reported affective and cognitive sequelae six months post OHCA. Female gender may be associated with self-reported anxiety. A higher CPC score may be a proxy for self-reported affective sequelae.