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Cardiac arrest

Signs of life strongly predict OHCA survival

Signs of Life During Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Prehospital Emergency Care · Added 27 July 2026

One in four treated OHCA patients displayed at least one sign of life during resuscitation.

Study type

Cohort

Design

Retrospective observational cohort study, single urban EMS system

Participants

617 treated OHCAs in 2022

Main finding

156 patients (25.3%) had at least one sign of life; survival 58.3% with signs of life vs 5.4% without; any sign of life associated with survival (aOR 10.3, 95% CI 5.4-19.9)

Caveat

Single urban EMS agency, retrospective design, and unadjusted confounding by arrest factors

Bottom line

Hypothesis-generating

Learning goal

Strengthen my judgement on when signs of life during resuscitation should influence continuation decisions in cardiac arrest.

More

• Topic: Cardiac arrest
• Daily scan: 27 July 2026

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