Vasopressin improves outcome in out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation of ventricular fibrillation and pulseless ventricular tachycardia: a observational cohort study

Table 2 Characteristics and survival outcomes in three treatment groups of patients with VF/VT cardiac arrest

Characteristics/survival outcomes	Treatment group
	Adrenaline only (group I)	Vasopressin after adrenaline (group II)	Vasopressin initially (group III)
Sex (male/female; n)^a	29/22	17/14	15/12
Age^b	61.3 ± 15.3	59.2 ± 13.3	60.3 ± 17.3
Time to initiation of CPR (min)^b	6.3 ± 3.5	7.2 ± 3.2	6.3 ± 2.9
Average dose of adrenaline (mg)^b	6.3 ± 3.5*	4.5 ± 2.1	3.1 ± 1.6
Amiodarone (n [%])^a	9/51 (18%)*	21/31 (68%)	17/27 (63%)
Lidocaine (n [%])^a	24/51 (47%)*	5/31 (16%)	1/27 (4%)
Bicarbonate (n [%])^a	23/51 (45%)	8/31 (26%)	6/27 (22%)
Atropine (n [%])^a	10/51 (20%)	4/31 (13%)	3/27 (11%)
ROSC with hospitalization (n [%])^a	23/51 (45%)*	19/31 (61%)	17/27 (63%)
24 hour survival (n [%])^a	15/51 (29%)*	15/31 (48%)	14/27 (51%)
Hospital discharge (n [%])^a	10/51 (20%)	8/31 (26%)	7/27 (26%)
Resuscitation by medical team (min)^b	28.1 ± 11.8*	18.8 ± 9.3	17.4 ± 8.4
Witnessed arrest (n [%])^a	32/51 (62%)	17/31 (55%)	16/27 (59%)
Cause of arrest (AMI/primary arrhythmia/other; n)^a	32/6/13	20/4/7	18/3/6

^aBy Fisher exact test; ^bby Wilcoxon rank-sum test. *P < 0.05 versus the other two groups. AMI, acute myocardial infarction; CPR, cardiopulmonary resuscitation; ROSC, restoration of spontaneous circulation; VF, ventricular fibrillation; VT, ventricular tachycardia.

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