Cardiac Arrest in Young Adults With Ischemic Heart Disease in the United States, 2004-2018

Cardiac arrest (CA) among young adults (<45 y) with ischemic heart disease (IHD) remained understudied. We evaluated the trends in clinical profile, in-hospital mortality, and health care resource utilization in CA-related hospitalizations among young adults with IHD. National Inpatient Sample (2004-2018) was used to identify adults aged 18-45 years. Of 77,359 weighted CA-related hospitalizations (mean age: 39 [0.05] y; 34.3% women), 65% had a myocardial infarction (MI), and 58% had a shockable rhythm. Between 2004 and 2018, CA-related hospitalizations among young adults with IHD increased from 1.8% to 2.4%. Overall, in-hospital mortality was 36.4%, which was higher for women vs men (40.4% vs 34.2%; P < 0.001) and Black vs White adults (43.9% vs 33.3%; P < 0.001). In-hospital mortality increased from 33.5% to 38.1%, with a consistent upward trend in men, White adults, and both MI and non-MI cases. However, in STEMI (40%), in-hospital mortality decreased from 34.6% to 20.2% (p-trend <0.001), while it increased in NSTEMI (14.8%) from 34.3% to 47.5% (p-trend <0.001). Overall mean length of stay (LOS) (7-9 days) and mean inflation-adjusted care cost ($34,431-$44,646) increased over the study duration. CA-related hospitalizations and associated LOS and inflation-adjusted care costs have increased in the last 15 years. In-hospital mortality increased by ∼5% during the study period with a higher mortality in women and among black adults. While increased CA-related hospitalizations may reflect improved pre-hospital care, greater efforts are needed to address improve in-hospital survival in CA among young adults with IHD.