Outcomes of patients hospitalized after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in relation to sex

• OBJECTIVE: To describe characteristics and outcomes of patients hospitalized after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in relation to sex. PATIENTS: All patients in the community of Göteborg who between 1980 and 1996 suffered out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and were hospitalized alive. METHODS: We calculated age-adjusted P values. RESULTS: In all 1038 patients were hospitalized alive of whom 29% were women. Women differed from men by being older and there being lower prevalences of previous acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and smoking and a higher prevalence of bronchial asthma among them. They had less commonly received cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) from bystanders (16 versus 25% of cases; P = 0.002) and were less commonly found to be in ventricular fibrillation when the ambulance crew arrived (55 versus 73% of cases; P < 0.0001). They were less commonly judged to have a cardiac etiology behind the arrest (87 versus 92% of cases; P = 0.016). Of women 31.3% could be discharged alive from hospital, compared with 41.8% of men (P = 0.001). While they were in hospital, women were less commonly subjected to exercise tests, coronary angiography, and coronary artery bypass grafting. CONCLUSION: Among patients who suffered out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and were hospitalized alive, women had less commonly received CPR from bystanders, were less commonly found in ventricular fibrillation, less commonly underwent coronary angiography and coronary artery bypass grafting and had a lower survival rate than did men.

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