Association of pulmonary hypertension with survival and neurologic outcomes in adults with in-hospital cardiac arrest

Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) has been associated with poor survival in multiple cardiopulmonary conditions, however its association with outcomes in cardiac arrest remains unknown. We aimed to evaluate the association of PH with survival and neurologic outcomes in adults with in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA).

Methods: The study population included adults with IHCA undergoing resuscitation at an academic tertiary-care medical center from 2011 to 2019. Patients were classified based upon the presence versus absence of PH, defined as a pulmonary artery systolic pressure >35 mmHg on pre-arrest echocardiogram. Survival to discharge and favorable neurological outcome (defined as a Glasgow Outcome Score of 4-5) served as the primary and secondary outcomes of interest respectively.

Results: Of the 371 patients studied, 203 (54.7%) had PH while 168 (45.3%) did not. Patients with PH had higher Charlson Comorbidity Score with higher rates of multiple baseline comorbidities. They also had worse multi-chamber enlargement, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, right ventricular systolic dysfunction, and valvular heart disease compared to non-PH patients. Rates of survival to discharge (11.5% vs 10.9%, p = 0.881) and favorable neurologic outcome (8.0% vs 6.2%, p = 0.550) were similar in PH and non-PH patients respectively. In multivariable analysis, PH was not associated with survival to discharge (OR 1.23, 95%CI 0.57-2.65) or favorable neurologic outcome (OR 1.69, 95%CI 0.64-4.45).

Conclusions: In this contemporary registry of adults with IHCA, while PH was associated with a higher risk patient profile, it was not associated with survival or neurologic outcomes in this population.