Associated factors with the occurrence of in-hospital cardiac arrest in patients admitted to internal medicine wards for non-cardiovascular causes.

Background And Objective: In-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) has a low survival rate, so it is essential to recognize the cases with the highest probability of developing it. The aim of this study is to identify factors associated with the occurrence of IHCA.

Material And Methods: A single-center case-control study was conducted including 65 patients admitted to internal medicine wards for non-cardiovascular causes who experienced IHCA, matched with 210 admitted controls who did not present with IHCA.

Results: The main reason for admission was pneumonia. The most prevalent comorbidity was arterial hypertension. Four characteristics were strongly and independently associated with IHCA presentation, these are electrical left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) (OR: 13.8; 95% IC: 4.7-40.7), atrial fibrillation (OR: 9.4: 95% CI: 4.3-20.6), the use of drugs with known risk of torsades de pointes (OR: 2.7; 95% CI: 1.3-5.5) and the combination of the categories known risk plus conditional risk (OR: 17.1; 95% CI: 6.7-50.1). The first two detected in the electrocardiogram taken at the time of admission.

Conclusion: In admitted patients for non-cardiovascular causes, the use of drugs with a known risk of torsades de pointes, as well as the detection of electrical LVH and atrial fibrillation in the initial electrocardiogram, is independently associated with a higher probability of suffering a IHCA.