A tool that can estimate the probability of survival for patients who suffer an in-hospital cardiac arrest has been developed by researchers who published their findings online in the Archives of Internal Medicine this month.
The tool--known as the Cardiac Arrest Survival Postresuscitation In-hospital (CASPRI) score--pulls patient data from the Get With the Guidelines registry of successfully resuscitated hospital patients to create a scale of potential survivability. Overall, the tool uses nearly 43,000 patient records from 551 hospitals.
Lower CASPRI scores--0 to 9, for instance--represent higher potential survival rates.
"From a clinical perspective, providing this type of evidence-based estimate of the likelihood of survival with favorable neurological recovery would offer important advantages to current approaches," the authors write. "After a cardiac arrest, clinicians often provide broad comments about prognosis, whereas families and other caregivers are eager for more precise information about the likelihood of survival and neurological outcome.
Add the authors: "More accurate prognostication in this setting would help confirm that decision about the intensity of life support are aligned with patients' preferences and advanced directives."
Earlier attempts at such tools, according to the authors, often failed to take into account neurological status.
As FierceHealthIT has reported, several tools for identifying at-risk heart patients have been developed throughout the year. For instance, a study in the journal HeartRhythm found Microvolt T-Wave Alternans (MTWA), a tool developed by Cambridge Heart, to be a powerful predictor of patients at risk for sudden cardiac death. A study published in the Journal of Evaluation and Clinical Practice, meanwhile, saw researchers combine two separate measurement systems for evaluating cardiovascular risks in individuals into one. Both studies were published in March.
Additionally, as FierceHealthIT reported earlier this year, healthcare informatics vendor Humedica developed a tool that pulls data from a patient's electronic health record to identify risk of congestive heart failure prior to his or her admission into a hospital.
To learn more:
- here's the Archives of Internal Medicine study