title: Quality of life and functional outcomes 12 months after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a significant global health problem. There has been considerable investment in improving the emergency medical response to OHCA, with associated improvements in survival. However, concern remains that survivors have a poor quality of life. This study describes the quality of life of OHCA survivors at 1-year postarrest in Victoria, Australia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adult OHCA patients who arrested between 2010 and 2012 were identified from the Victorian Ambulance Cardiac Arrest Registry. Paramedics attended 15 113 OHCA patients of which 46.3% received an attempted resuscitation. Nine hundred and twenty-seven (13.2%) survived to hospital discharge of which 76 (8.2%) died within 12 months. Interviews were conducted with 697 (80.7%) patients or proxies, who were followed-up via telephone interview, including the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended, the 12-item short form health survey, and the EuroQol. The majority (55.6%) of respondents had a good recovery via the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended≥7 (41.1% if patients who died postdischarge were included and nonrespondents were assumed to have poor recovery). The mean EuroQol index score for respondents was 0.82 (standard deviation, 0.19), which compared favorably with an adjusted population norm of 0.81 (standard deviation, 0.34). The mean 12-item short form Mental Component Summary score for patients was 53.0 (standard deviation, 10.2), whereas the mean Physical Component Summary score was 46.1 (standard deviation, 11.2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the largest published study assessing the quality of life of OHCA survivors. It provides good evidence that many survivors have an acceptable quality of life 12 months postarrest, particularly in comparison with population norms.
authors.affiliation: From Ambulance Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (K.S., E.A., M.L., Z.N., S.B.); Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (K.S., E.A., M.L., Z.N., S.B.); School of Primary, Aboriginal, and Rural Health Care, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia (K.S.); and Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (S.B.). Karen.smith@ambulance.vic.gov.au.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: From Ambulance Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (K.S., E.A., M.L., Z.N., S.B.); Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (K.S., E.A., M.L., Z.N., S.B.); School of Primary, Aboriginal, and Rural Health Care, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia (K.S.); and Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (S.B.).
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Andrew
authors.affiliation: From Ambulance Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (K.S., E.A., M.L., Z.N., S.B.); Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (K.S., E.A., M.L., Z.N., S.B.); School of Primary, Aboriginal, and Rural Health Care, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia (K.S.); and Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (S.B.).
authors.forename: Marijana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lijovic
authors.affiliation: From Ambulance Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (K.S., E.A., M.L., Z.N., S.B.); Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (K.S., E.A., M.L., Z.N., S.B.); School of Primary, Aboriginal, and Rural Health Care, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia (K.S.); and Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (S.B.).
authors.forename: Ziad
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Nehme
authors.affiliation: From Ambulance Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (K.S., E.A., M.L., Z.N., S.B.); Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (K.S., E.A., M.L., Z.N., S.B.); School of Primary, Aboriginal, and Rural Health Care, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia (K.S.); and Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (S.B.).
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bernard
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D060731:Emergency Responders / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D023261:Glasgow Outcome Scale; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058687:Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000628:therapy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D020127:Recovery of Function; D015996:Survival Rate; D017180:Tachycardia, Ventricular / Q000453:epidemiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000453:epidemiology; D014739:Victoria / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: follow-up studies; heart arrest; prognosis; registries; resuscitation