The following is a summary of “Targeted temperature management on outcome of older adult patients after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest,” published in the April 2023 issue of Emergency Medicine by Nakajima, et al.

Targeted temperature management (TTM) is a medical procedure that may help improve the prognosis of patients who experience out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). While TTM has been studied in various patient populations, its effectiveness in older adults with OHCA remains unclear. Therefore, for a study, researchers sought to examine the outcomes of older adult patients who received TTM following OHCA.

The study included patients aged 18 years and older who experienced OHCA and underwent TTM between June 1, 2014, and December 31, 2017. The primary outcome of interest was a 1-month neurological favorable outcome, while the secondary outcome was 1-month survival.

The study analyzed a total of 1,847 patients. Of the 389 patients aged ≥75, only 20.3% had a 1-month neurological favorable outcome compared to 38.5% of the 959 patients aged 18-64. After adjusting for various factors, the odds ratio for favorable neurological outcomes was 0.31 (95% CI, 0.21-0.45; P for trend <0.001) for those 75 years and older. While 1-month mortality increased with age, the difference was not statistically significant.

In the retrospective study of OHCA patients who underwent TTM, the likelihood of a favorable neurological outcome decreased with age. The findings suggested that age may impact the effectiveness of TTM in older adults, and further research was necessary to understand the relationship better.

Reference: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0735675723000323