ABSTRACT
The magnitude of out-of-hospital CA is uncertain, with estimates between 200,000 and 500,000 cases annually in the United States ( 1,2 ). In one study, the incidence was 7 times higher in subjects with clinically recognized heart disease (5.98/1000 vs. 0.82/1000 subject-years) and was the highest in the subgroup of patients with congestive heart failure (21.9/1000 subject-years) ( 3 ). The overall prognosis for anoxic coma is poor, with 85% or more having a poor outcome (death or a vegetative state) within a month of the initial insult ( 4,5 ).
