Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Background: In-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The relationships of race/ethnicity and sex to outcomes and treatment patterns among patients with IHCA remain poorly understood.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the National Inpatient Sample database from 2016 to 2020 to identify adult patients with IHCA and compare in-hospital outcomes stratified by race/ethnicity (White, Black, Hispanic) and sex. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included rates of in-hospital procedures. Multivariable logistic regression was used to adjust for potential confounders.
Results: Among 207,770 patients with IHCA, 26.6% had ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation (VT/VF) and 73.4% had pulseless electrical activity (PEA)/asystole. In the VT/VF subgroup, Black males (aOR 1.42, 95% CI 1.21-1.66), Black females (aOR 1.25, 95% CI 1.05-1.50), and Hispanic females (aOR 1.30, 95% CI 1.01-1.66) had higher odds of mortality compared to White males (Figure 1). In the PEA/asystole subgroup, Black males (aOR 1.25, 95% CI 1.11-1.39) and Hispanic males (aOR 1.22, 95% CI 1.07-1.40) had higher odds of mortality, while White females had lower odds (aOR 0.88, 95% CI 0.82-0.94) compared to White males (Figure 2). Black patients were less likely to receive percutaneous coronary intervention (aOR 0.53, 95% CI 0.43-0.66 for males; aOR 0.54, 95% CI 0.42-0.69 for females) and coronary artery bypass grafting (aOR 0.50, 95% CI 0.30-0.82 for males; aOR 0.47, 95% CI 0.27-0.81 for females) compared to White males in VT/VF arrests. Additionally, Black males had the highest adjusted odds of renal replacement therapy in VT/VF arrests (aOR 1.47, 95% CI 1.21-1.80), while Hispanic males had the highest adjusted odds in PEA/asystole arrests (aOR 1.49, 95% CI 1.27-1.74) compared to White males. The remaining outcomes of interest in both VT/VF and PEA/asystole arrests are shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2 respectively.
Conclusion: Significant racial/ethnic and sex disparities exist in outcomes and treatment patterns among patients with IHCA, with differences observed in both VT/VF and PEA/asystole subgroups. Targeted efforts and further studies are needed to better understand and address these disparities and improve outcomes in these severely ill patients.