Naloxone may improve cardiac arrest survival even in non-overdose cases, study suggests
Researchers noted an association between naloxone and return of spontaneous circulation in non-drug-related cardiac arrests.
Overdose reversal agent naloxone can improve survival in drug-related cardiac arrests and possibly other cardiac arrests, a retrospective cohort study suggests.
The study is the first large-scale evaluation of naloxone and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest outcomes in practice, say researchers from the University of California and University of Pittsburgh.
They looked at records of 8195 patients treated by emergency responders for non-traumatic cardiac arrest between 2015 and 2023, including 1165 patients administered naloxone.
About 35% of patients given naloxone had return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) compared with 23% without naloxone, they found.
