The impact of diastolic blood pressure values on the neurological outcome of cardiac arrest patients.

Aim: Which haemodynamic variable is the best predictor of neurological outcome remains unclear. We investigated the association of several haemodynamic variables with neurological outcome in CA patients.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of adult comatose survivors of CA admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a University Hospital. Exclusion criteria were early death due to withdrawal of care, missing haemodynamic data and use of intra-aortic balloon pump or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. We retrieved CA characteristics; lactate concentration and cardiovascular sequential organ failure assessment (cSOFA) score on admission; systolic (SAP), diastolic (DAP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and the use of vasopressors and inotropic agents during the first 6 h of ICU stay. Unfavourable neurological outcome (UO) was defined as a 3-month cerebral performance category score of 3-5.

Results: Among the 170 patients (median age 63 years, 67% male, 60% out-of-hospital CA), 106 (63%) had UO. Admission lactate was higher in patients with UO than in those with favourable neurological outcome (4.0[2.4-7.3] vs. 2.5[1.4-6.0] mEq/L; p = 0.003) as was the cSOFA (3 [1-4] vs. 2[0-3]; p = 0.007). The lowest DAP during the first 6 h after ICU admission was significantly lower in patients with unfavourable neurological outcome, notably in patients with high cSOFA scores. In multivariable analysis, high adrenaline doses and the lowest value of DAP during the first 6 h after ICU admission was significantly associated with unfavourable neurological outcome.

Conclusions: In CA patients admitted to the ICU, low DAP during the first 6 h is an independent predictor of unfavourable neurological outcome at 3 months.