Patients experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest have good long-term survival prospects following index hospitalisation, estimated at 62-64% at 10 years, a new review shows.

This rate is comparable to that for individuals admitted to ICU, including those with ST-elevated MI (STEMI), researchers say, and it is higher than 10-year survival following CABG.

However, the Swiss team points out the need for additional research to understand the trajectory of survival rates — which drop from 83% at the three-year mark — so that care can be further improved.

The University of Basel-led team conducted two meta-analyses using novel and traditional statistical techniques to determine the long-term survival in adults following their initial hospital stay for an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).