Presentation and Outcomes of Adults With Overdose-Related Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Question  Are there differences in the temporal pattern, presentation, or outcomes for drug-specific etiology of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) due to overdose (OD)?

Findings  In a population-based cohort study of 6790 adult patients with emergency medical services–treated OHCA from a US metropolitan system, the incidence of OD-OHCA more than doubled from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2021, compared with the incidence of non-OD OHCA (ie, no significant change); OHCA due to combined opioid-stimulant etiology experienced the lowest survival among drug-specific profiles.

Meaning  The combination of increasing incidence and lower survival among OHCA secondary to combined opioid-stimulant substance use frames an urgent need for prevention and resuscitation strategies in this population.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2811464 Yogeswaran V, Drucker C, Kume K, et al. Presentation and Outcomes of Adults With Overdose-Related Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(11):e2341921. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.41921

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