Outcomes of Cardiac Arrest in Residential Care Homes for the Elderly in Hong Kong

Objective: Studies done in the 1990's suggested nursing home residents with cardiac arrest had minimal chance of survival and resuscitation was not recommended. More recent studies showed opposing results. In Hong Kong, the proportion of elderly living in the residential care homes for the elderly is increasing. There is no study of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest outcomes in this population. This study aimed at evaluating the prognosis of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest occurring in the residential care homes for the elderly. It is hoped that the findings may inform the local emergency medical service concerning the issue of futility of resuscitating the residents with cardiac arrest in the residential care homes.

Methods: This study was a retrospective analysis of a database of all patients aged 65 years or above with atraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and who were attended by the emergency medical service in a 12-month period. Data in the database were prospectively collected by the emergency medical service. The characteristics of patients and cardiac arrests, timeliness of the emergency medical service, and survival were analyzed. Comparison was made between elderly living in and not living in the residential care homes. Predictors of survival were evaluated with logistic regression.

Results: 3919 patients aged ≥ 65 years were analyzed. There were 1506 cases of cardiac arrest occurring in the residential care homes for the elderly. Resuscitation was discontinued at the emergency department in over 70% of these cases. The survival to hospital admission rate and the 30-day survival rate were 9.6% and 0.3% respectively. Both were lower than patients not residing in the residential care homes. Younger age, witnessed arrest, bystander defibrillation, and shorter call to ED interval were associated with higher chance of surviving to hospital admission.

Conclusion: Elderly suffering from cardiac arrest in residential care homes had a poor chance of survival. Except age, witnessed arrest, bystander defibrillation, and call to ED interval are modifiable predictors of survival. It is inappropriate to declare that resuscitating elderly in residential care homes is futile unless those factors have been fully addressed.