RICHMOND, Va.– Patients who have in-hospital cardiac arrests at night or on weekends are more likely to die than those who arrest at other times, according to data from a national registry. Return of spontaneous circulation and favorable neurologic outcomes also were significantly lower in patients who had cardiac arrests at night versus day or evening hours (P0.001), Mary Ann Peberdy, M.D., of Virginia Commonwealth University, and colleagues reported in the Feb. 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Patients who had in-hospital arrests during day or evening hours had significantly lower survival if the arrests occurred on weekends versus weekdays. ‘The mechanism for the decreased survival during the night is likely multifactorial, potentially including biological differences in patients as well as healthcare staff and hospital staffing and operational factors,’ the authors said. ‘These data suggest the need to focus on night and weekend hospital-wide resuscitation system processes of care that can potentially improve patient safety and survival following cardiac arrest.’ The findings came from data provided by 507 hospitals in the National Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, sponsored by the American Heart Association. Data for the study covered the period from Jan. 1, […]