People infected with COVID-19 have a higher risk of dying after a cardiac arrest. A report from the Swedish Registry for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

COVID-19 patients who suffer a cardiac arrest either in or out of hospital are far more likely to die than patients who are not infected with the coronavirus. Women are are nine times more likely to die after suffering a cardiac arrest in hospital, according to Sultanian et al.

This Swedish study showed that COVID-19 was implicated in at least 10% of all out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and 16% of in hospital cardiac arrests (IHCA). Coronavirus patients who had an OHCA or IHCA had a 3.4 and 2.3-fold increased risk of dying within 30 days, respectively. Unfortunately, none of these patients had been discharged alive from hospital by the time the study was written in October 2020.

Graphical Abstract