Late awakening, prognostic factors and long-term outcome in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest - results of the prospective Norwegian Cardio-Respiratory Arrest Study (NORCAST).

Background: Outcome prediction after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) may lead to withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy if the prognosis is perceived negative. Single use of uncertain prognostic tools may lead to self-fulfilling prophecies and death. We evaluated prognostic tests, blinded to clinicians and without calls for hasty outcome prediction, in a prospective study.