Chronicity of memory impairment in long-term out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors

As a result of out-of-hospital defibrillation initiatives, many cities have an increasing population of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors. We previously identified that one third of these patients suffer memory problems in the months after resuscitation. The pattern of memory impairment (impa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Resuscitation 2000-09, Vol.47 (1), p.27-32
Main Authors: Drysdale, Emma E., Grubb, Neil R., Fox, Keith A.A., O'Carroll, Ronan E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy
Behavior
Biological and medical sciences
Cardiac arrest
Chronic Disease
Emergency and intensive cardiocirculatory care. Cardiogenic shock. Coronary intensive care
Heart Arrest - complications
Hospitalization
Humans
Hypoxia
Intensive care medicine
Medical sciences
Memory
Memory Disorders - etiology
Memory Disorders - psychology
Neuropsychological Tests
Reference Values
Survival Analysis
Time Factors
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Summary:As a result of out-of-hospital defibrillation initiatives, many cities have an increasing population of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors. We previously identified that one third of these patients suffer memory problems in the months after resuscitation. The pattern of memory impairment (impaired recall memory and intact recognition memory) is suggestive of hippocampal damage. In this study we followed up ten subjects who had previously been found to have memory impairment after their cardiac arrest. To assess the chronicity of this memory impairment, we re-tested memory function approximately 3 years after the index events. These subjects were compared with age and sex matched control subjects with previous myocardial infarction and no cardiac arrest. Memory was assessed using the Rivermead Behavioural Memory test (RBMT). To further assess recall and recognition memory we used the Doors and People test (DPT), which is specifically designed to identify deficits in these functions. RBMT scores declined significantly in both groups compared with the original assessment 8 months after cardiac arrest, possibly an effect of ageing-control group: mean (S.D.) 22.2 (1.4)–18.4 (2.9); cardiac arrest group: 16.1 (2.7)–14.6 (4.4). The inter-group difference in RBMT score remained significant ( P=0.001). DPT scores were poor in the cardiac arrest group (mean (S.D.) total 5.8 (2.8)), compared with the control group (10.8 (3.4)) who scored normally. Both recall and recognition memory were poor in the cardiac arrest group. We conclude that the memory deficits that we previously observed in cardiac arrest victims are persistent. Both recall and recognition memory are affected, implying that non-selective brain injury may be the mechanism.
ISSN:0300-9572
1873-1570
DOI:10.1016/S0300-9572(00)00194-5