Factors Associated With Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Therapy After Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Abstract

Background

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a leading cause of global mortality. Most patients get hypoxic brain injury, which often leads to the withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy (WLST) because of concerns of poor neurologic prognosis. This study describes the rates and reasons for WLST and identifies factors associated with early WLST, defined as occurring within 72 hours of admission.

Methods

We conducted a multicentered, retrospective cohort study of adult OHCA patients admitted to 3 large academic hospitals in Toronto from January 2012 to December 2019. Data were extracted from medical records and analyzed using descriptive statistics and cause-specific hazards regression models to identify factors associated with WLST and documented goals of care (GOC) discussions.

Results

Among 264 patients (median age 66 years, 76.5% male), the in-hospital mortality rate was 62.1%. Of the nonsurvivors, 67.1% died following WLST (90% of cases because of concern of poor neurologic prognosis), with 50% of WLST occurring <72 hours from admission. Formal declaration of brain death only occurred 9.8% of the time. Older age significantly increased the risk of early WLST. GOC discussions were documented only 56.4% of the time in the overall cohort and significantly associated with WLST across all time periods.

Conclusions

This study highlights the high incidence of WLST, and specifically early WLST, in OHCA patients. GOC discussions are routinely undocumented and is associated with a higher likelihood of WLST. These findings underscore heterogeneity of practice, and the influence of GOC discussions in education and shared decision making.