Neuropsychological Outcome After Cardiac Arrest

This study is a sub-study to the large pragmatic Target Temperature Management 2 Trial (TTM2-trial, ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02908308), assessing effectiveness of controlled hypothermia after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). This study is designed to provide detailed information on cognition after OHCA and its relationship to associated factors as emotional function, fatigue, and sleep. A secondary aim is to utilize this information to validate a neurocognitive screening battery used 6 months after OHCA in the TTM2-trial. Approximately 7 and 24 months after OHCA, survivors at selected TTM2 study sites will perform a standardized neuropsychological assessment including performance-based tests of cognition and questionnaires of behavioral and emotional function, fatigue, and insomnia. At 1:1 ratio, a control group of myocardial infarction (MI) patients but no occurrence of cardiac arrest will be recruited and perform the same test battery. Group differences at 7 and 24 months will be analyzed per cognitive domain (verbal, visual/constructive, short-term working memory, episodic memory, processing speed, executive functions). Results of the OHCA survivors on the TTM2 neurocognitive screening battery will be compared with neuropsychological test results at 7 months time.