Association of the Bedside Shivering Assessment Scale and derived EMG power during therapeutic hypothermia in survivors of cardiac arrest.

Introduction: Shivering during therapeutic hypothermia (TH) after cardiac arrest (CA) is common, but the optimal means of detection and appropriate threshold for treatment are not established. In an effort to develop a quantitative, continuous tool to measure shivering, we hypothesized that continuous derived electromyography (dEMG) power detected by the Aspect A2000 or VISTA monitor would correlate with the intermittent Bedside Shivering Assessment Scale (BSAS) performed by nurses.

Methods: Among 38 patients treated with TH after CA, 853 hourly BSAS measurements were compared to dEMG power measured every minute by a frontal surface electrode.