Serious injuries secondary to cardiopulmonary resuscitation: incidence and associated factors

To determine the incidence of serious rib cage damage (SRD) and serious visceral damage (SVD) secondary to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and to explore associated factors.

We analyzed data from the prospective registry of cases of sudden death in Tarragona, Spain (the ReCaPTa study). Cases were collected from multiple surveillance sources. In this study we included the cases of autopsied nonsurvivors after attempted manual CPR between April 2014 and May 2016. A specific protocol to detect injuries secondary to CPR was used during the autopsies.

We analyzed 109 cases. The mean age at death was 63 years and 32.1% were women. SRD were found in 63.3% and SVD in 14.7%. The group with SRD were significantly older (63 vs 59 years, P=.031) and included higher percentages of persons with a chest circumference over 101 cm (56.5 vs 30%, P=.016) and a waist circumference over 100 cm (62.3 vs 37.5%, P=.017). A multivariable analysis confirmed chest circumference over 101 cm as the only risk factor for SRD (odds ratio [OR], 2.45; 95% CI, 1.03-5.84) and female sex as the only risk factor for SVD (OR, 5.02; 95% CI, 1.18-21.25).

Women and any patient with a chest circumference greater than 101 cm are at greater risk for serious injuries related to CPR.