Cardiac Arrest Survivorship
Research Hub

Objective: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a devastating event that can have ongoing neurological and functional sequelae for survivors, which impact their whānau/family and society. Information on long-term survival remains incomplete. We aimed to understand the long-term neurological, functional, and health-related quality of life outcomes and survival of patients with OHCA at 24 months in New Zealand. Design: We performed a preplanned prospective, longitudinal cohort study. Setting: New Zealand Participants: Participants enrolled in the Targeted Therapeutic Mild Hypercapnia after resuscitated Cardiac Arrest (TAME trial) in New Zealand. Main outcome measures: Participants had a comprehensive follow-up at 6 and 24 months using the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended to determine neurological outcome as well as multiple other patient-centred functional outcome assessment tools. Results: We included all 200 TAME participants enrolled in New Zealand, of whom 194 (97%) had 24-month data. There was no difference in the primary and secondary TAME study outcomes between groups, with overall 56.3% of participants having a favourable neurological outcome at 6 months. In the New Zealand subpopulation, functional and health-related quality of life status at 24 months was not worse than at 6 months for most survivors, with very few participants reporting more than slight disability. Conclusions: Among New Zealand TAME trial participants, neurological and functional outcomes measured across multiple domains generally remained stable or improved between 6 and 24 months. These findings provide important information for survivors of OHCA, their whānau/family, clinicians, and researchers on the timing and trajectory of neurological and functional recovery. Source: Parke RL et al. Critical Care and Resuscitation (2026). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccrj.2026.100212. Abstract retrieved from OpenAlex (https://openalex.org/W7211997410). Reproduced under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Abstract wording unchanged; section-heading formatting adapted.

Introduction Cardiac arrest is the loss of mechanical cardiac function and the absence of systemic circulation. When it occurs out-of-hospital it is defined out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Survival after OHCA does not fully capture recovery, as survivors often experience persistent cognitive, psychological, and functional consequences. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are essential to assess these domains, but their longitudinal collection in routine survivorship care depends on patient engagement and retention over time. REVIVE is a regional hub-and-spoke survivorship pathway implemented within the Cardiac Arrest Registry of the Lombardy Region (LombardiaCARe) network to coordinate post-discharge follow-up after OHCA and standardize the assessment of patient-reported outcomes. Objectives To describe the structure of PROM collection within REVIVE and to evaluate patient retention, evaluability, and follow-up completeness over the 2025 calendar year. Methods We conducted a descriptive analysis of the REVIVE study between January and December 2025. During this period, 1,663 OHCA events were admitted to participating hospitals, 127 patients were eligible for the REVIVE pathway, 99 were contacted by the hub psychologist after signing informed consent, and 67 completed at least one assessment. REVIVE is structured as a hub-and-spoke pathway, with a specialist hub coordinating post-discharge follow-up and outcome assessment across participating hospitals. PROMs and related outcomes were collected at predefined timepoints and included discharge, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after the OHCA event. The PROMs assessed were anxiety and depression (HADS), post-traumatic stress symptoms (IES-R), cognitive performance (MoCA), and health-related quality of life (EQ-5D-5L), together with a clinical semi-structured interview. The analysis focused on the number of patients contributing at each timepoint and on the availability of at least one evaluable PROM per patient. Results Among the 99 consenting patients, 67 (67.7%) were evaluable and formed the analytic denominator. At the visit level, 46 patients had at least one PROM recorded at discharge, 49 at 1 month, 52 at 3 months, and 49 at 6 months. Domain-level completeness was high: HADS was available in 66 of 67 evaluable patients (98.5%), while MoCA and EQ-5D VAS were available in all evaluable patients (67/67, 100%). These results suggest that the main methodological challenge was not baseline collection, but maintaining patient engagement across repeated assessments, which in PROM-based survivorship care is inherently patient-driven rather than passive. Conclusions PROMs add value beyond survival by capturing outcomes that matter to OHCA survivors, but their validity depends on sustained patient engagement throughout follow-up. In REVIVE, the main challenge was not baseline collection, but maintaining retention in a patient-driven and psychologically sensitive assessment process, where readiness to participate may vary over time. These findings support clear definition of the evaluable cohort, transparent reporting of timepoint-specific completeness, and retention-oriented strategies to improve the quality and interpretability of longitudinal PROM data. Source: Roberto Primi et al. Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Public Health (2026). https://doi.org/10.54103/2282-0930/32081. Reproduced under CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Abstract wording unchanged; section-heading formatting adapted.

Psychological and cognitive problems frequently persist after cardiac arrest, even among survivors with favourable neurological recovery. We systematically reviewed whether structured approaches to the identification and assessment of psychological, emotional or cognitive sequelae improve patient- or key supporter-relevant outcomes. MEDLINE, Embase and CENTRAL were searched from inception to December 2025. Among 1,605 records, none met the prespecified eligibility criteria. The absence of eligible comparative evidence precludes evidence-based recommendations regarding which instruments, thresholds, timing or multidisciplinary pathways should be used. Pragmatic comparative studies should urgently test reproducible screening-to-care pathways against usual care, incorporating diagnostic confirmation, referral, treatment access and survivor-centred outcomes.