title: Duration of hospital participation in Get With the Guidelines-Resuscitation and survival of in-hospital cardiac arrest.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Get With the Guidelines (GWTG-R) is a data registry and quality improvement program for in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA). It is unknown if duration of hospital participation in GWTG-R is associated with IHCA outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed adults with IHCA from 362 hospitals participating in GWTG-R between 2000 and 2009. Using logistic regression with generalized estimating equations to account for clustering on hospital, we determined the association between duration of hospital participation in GWTG-R and patient outcomes after IHCA, adjusted for patient and arrest characteristics and secular trend. Using these methods, we also evaluated the association between duration of participation and factors previously correlated with survival after IHCA, including ECG monitored status, after-hours arrest, and time to defibrillation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 104,732 patients with IHCA, 17,646 patients (16.9%) survived to discharge. Duration of hospital participation in GWTG-R was associated with IHCA event survival (per year of participation, odds ratio [OR] 1.02; 95% CI 1.00-1.04; p=0.046) but not survival to discharge (OR 1.02; 95% CI 0.99-1.04; p=0.18). Among factors previously correlated with IHCA survival, duration of participation was associated with time to defibrillation ≤2 min (per year of participation, OR 1.06; 95% CI 1.03-1.10; p<0.001), but not ECG monitored status (OR 1.00; 95% CI 0.93-1.06; p=0.90) or survival of after-hours arrest (OR 1.01; 95% CI 0.99-1.03; p=0.41). Among ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation (VT/VF) arrests, time to defibrillation attenuated the association between duration of hospital participation and outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Duration of hospital participation in GWTG-R was significantly associated with survival of the IHCA event, but not with survival to discharge. In VT/VF arrests, this association may have been mediated by improvements in time to defibrillation.
authors.affiliation: VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System and University of Colorado-Denver, Denver, CO 80220-3808, USA. Steven.Bradley@va.gov
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: Ella
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Huszti
authors.forename: Sam A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Warren
authors.forename: Raina M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Merchant
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Sayre
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nichol
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D058996:Quality Improvement; D013997:Time Factors