Survival Rate from In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Is Lower During Off Hours

Small single-hospital studies show lower rates of survival from in-hospital cardiac arrest at night than during the day. In the current study, researchers analyzed data from the 507 hospitals in the National Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation to compare outcomes of in-hospital cardiac arrest between 07:00 and 22:59 (day/evening) and between 23:00 and 06:59 (night).

From 2000 to 2007, about 59,000 arrests occurred at night and 28,000 occurred during the day/evening. Rates of survival to discharge were significantly lower at night than during the day/evening (15% vs. 20%), as were rates of return of spontaneous circulation for >20 minutes (45% vs. 51%), survival at 24 hours (29% vs. 35%), and favorable neurologic outcome based on cerebr…