JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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In-hospital cardiac arrest is common and associated with a high mortality rate. Despite this, in-hospital cardiac arrest has received little attention compared with other high-risk cardiovascular conditions, such as stroke, myocardial infarction, and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. ⋯ An estimated 290 000 in-hospital cardiac arrests occur each year in the United States. However, there is limited evidence to support clinical decision making. An increased awareness with regard to optimizing clinical care and new research might improve outcomes.
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Clinical decisions are ideally based on evidence generated from multiple randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating clinical outcomes, but historically, few clinical guideline recommendations have been based entirely on this type of evidence. ⋯ Among recommendations in major cardiovascular society guidelines, only a small percentage were supported by evidence from multiple RCTs or a single, large RCT. This pattern does not appear to have meaningfully improved from 2008 to 2018.