(HealthDay News) — For survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, long-term health-related quality of life is consistently high up to 20 years after the event, according to a study published online Sept. 13 in JAMA Cardiology.
Harman Yonis, MD, from Nordsjællands Hospital in Hillerød, Denmark, and colleagues used the EuroQol Health Questionnaire (EQ index), 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to assess the health-related quality of life of 4,545 adult survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest included in the Danish Cardiac Arrest Registry between June 1, 2001, and Aug. 31, 2019, who were alive in October 2020. The survey was completed by 56.1% of survivors, with a median follow-up of 5.5 years since their event.
The researchers found that the median EQ index score was 0.9 for both the shortest follow-up (zero to one year) and longest follow-up (>15 to 20 years) groups. The mean SF-12 physical and mental health scores were 43.3 and 52.9, respectively, for all responders. All three scores were similar to those from a general Danish reference population. Based on HADS scores, a low risk for anxiety was reported by 73.0 and 89.3% of the shortest and longest follow-up groups, respectively; these proportions were 79.7 and 87.5%, respectively, for symptoms of depression. In survivors across all follow-up periods, health-related quality of life was similar.
“These findings support resource allocation and efforts targeted to increasing survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest,” the authors write.
Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.
Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
