The outcomes of patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit following cardiac arrest at a tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia.

INTRODUCTION Cardiopulmonary arrests may occur unexpectedly and result in high mortality rates. Saudi Arabia currently relies on data on resuscitation outcomes and factors affecting the outcome which overwhelmingly come from the United States and Western Europe. OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study were thus to evaluate the outcome of patients who had a cardiac arrest that in one tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia and to investigate factors that may have impacted those outcomes. PATIENTS AND METHODS Included in this study were all adult patients who survived cardiac arrest admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU). We reviewed time period between January 2000 and March 2007. RESULTS In this retrospective cohort study we identified 1749 patients with cardiac arrest; 495 (28.3%) of them were admitted to the ICU. Of those admitted, 238 (13.6% of the original cohort) survived to ICU discharge, and 134 (7.7%) to discharge from the hospital. CONCLUSIONS The prognosis of cardiac arrests victims remains poor. We reviewed recent changes to resuscitation protocols which, when implemented, may improve outcome of cardiac arrest patients. To improve this situation initiatives such as the creation of "medical emergency team" to provide early response to at-risk patients might potentially change the fate of some individuals.