Prediction of “Mostly Dead” vs “All Dead” After In-hospital Cardiac Arrest: Comment on “A Validated Prediction Tool for Initial Survivors of In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest”

In-hospital cardiac arrest¹ and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest² have similar prevalence and outcome. Efforts are warranted to improve care for either condition since out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is the third-leading cause of death in the United States.² If patients who are resuscitated from cardiac arrest survive to discharge, they usually have good functional capacity or health-related quality of life.³ Family members and care providers of patients with cardiac arrest need guidance about whether patients are likely to survive to discharge without severe neurologic deficits so as to guide treatment decisions after the initial resuscitation period. Thus predicting prognosis after cardiac arrest is a focus of interest of health care providers and policy makers as well as the media.