Study of In-Hospital Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) in the Elderly :

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) evolved from a specific intervention applied in limited clinical situations to the default response to cardiac arrest in or out of the hospital, an evolution accompanied by a dramatic decline in survival rates after CPR.1-3

The largest study to date, which included 14,720 CPR events from the National Registry of CardioPulmonary Resuscitation, showed that 17% of patients survived to discharge.9 Associations between age and survival after CPR remain unclear, with conflicting results from previous studies.6,10,11 Black race may be associated with lower survival after in-hospital or out-of-hospital CPR and may be associated with delayed defibrillation.12-14

Subsequently, innovations allowing rapid out-of-hospital CPR resulted in improved outcomes in the out-of-hospital setting.4,5 However, it is unclear whether advances in CPR or in care after cardiac arrest have improved outcomes after in-hospital arrest.