Abstract
BACKGROUND: Cardiac arrest (CA) can activate the coagulation system. Some coagulation-related indicators are associated with clinical outcomes. Early evaluation of patients with cardiac arrest-associated coagulopathy (CAAC) not only predicts clinical outcomes, but also allows for timely clinical intervention to prevent disseminated intravascular coagulation. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether CAAC predicts 30-day cumulative mortality. METHODS: From the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV (MIMIC-IV) database, we conducted a retrospective cohort study from 2008 to 2019. Based on international normalized ratio (INR) value and platelet count, we diagnosed CAAC cases and made the following stratification of severity: mild CAAC was defined as 1.4 > INR≧1.2 and 100,000/µL < platelet count≦150,000/µL; moderate CAAC was defined with either 1.6 > INR≧1.4 or 80,000/µL < platelet count≦100,000/µL; severe CAAC was defined as an INR≧1.6 and platelet count≦80,000/µL. RESULTS: A total of 1485 patients were included. Crude survival analysis showed that patients with CAAC had higher mortality risk than those without CAAC (33.0% vs 52.0%, P < 0.001). Unadjusted survival analysis showed an incremental increase in the risk of mortality as the severity of CAAC increased. After adjusting confounders (prehospital characteristics and hospitalization characteristics), CAAC was independently associated with 30-day mortality (hazard rate [HR] 1.77, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.41-2.25; P < 0.001); moderate CAAC (HR 1.48, 95% CI 1.09-2.10; P = 0.027) and severe CAAC (HR 2.22, 95% CI 1.64-2.97; P < 0.001) were independently associated with 30-day mortality. CONCLUSION: The presence of CAAC identifies a group of CA at higher risk for mortality, and there is an incremental increase in risk of mortality as the severity of CAAC increases. However, the results of this study should be further verified by multicenter study.