Prognosis for Cardiac Arrest Survivors

Survival after a cardiac arrest is dependent on many factors.

Factors before cardiac arrest:

  • Age
  • Ethnicity
  • Poor health including diabetes, cancer, infection, kidney disease and stroke

Factors during cardiac arrest:

  • Time between collapse and start of CPR/defibrillation
  • Quality of CPR/defibrillation
  • Whether survivor had neurological function during or immediately after CPR

Factors after cardiac arrest and resuscitation:

  • Neurological function: Generally, poor function equals poor prognosis. But it could be complicated by medical instability and treatments. Some patients suffer a stroke after a cardiac arrest.
  • Neurophysiologic function: Tests include somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) and electroencephalogram (EEG).
  • Neuroimaging and monitoring: Cranial CT, MRI, magnetic resonance spectroscopy and positron emission tomography (PET) determine structural brain injury, mostly to exclude hemorrhage or stroke.
  • Biochemistry: from blood or cerebrospinal fluid
  • Therapeutic hypothermia: Intentionally lowering the patient's body temperature.
Written by American Heart Association editorial staff and reviewed by science and medicine advisors.

See our editorial policies and staff.

Last Reviewed: Nov 10, 2023

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