The impact of psychological distress on long-term recovery perceptions in survivors of cardiac arrest

Purpose: To determine the association of depressive and PTSD symptoms with cardiac arrest survivors’ long-term recovery perceptions, after accounting for cognitive status, functional independence, and medical comorbidities. Methods: Perceived recovery of 78 cardiac arrest survivors at 6-months post-hospital discharge was assessed through the question, “Do you feel that you have made a complete recovery from your arrest?” Psychological symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (CES-D) and the PTSD Checklist-Specific (PCL–S). Logistic regression was utilized to assess the association between psychological symptoms with positive and negative recovery perceptions, adjusting for demographics, cognitive impairment, functional dependence, and medical comorbidities. Results: At 6 months, 53% of patients (n = 41) had negative recovery perceptions. 32.1% (n = 25) of patients screened for depression and 28.2% (n = 22) for PTSD. Patients with higher CES-D scores were significantly more likely to have negative recovery perceptions in both unadjusted and adjusted analyses (OR: 1.10, 95% CI [1.03, 1.16], p <.01). PCL-S scores were significantly associated with negative recovery perceptions in an unadjusted model (OR: 1.05, 95% CI [1.01, 1.10], p <.01), but not after adjustment of covariates. Conclusions: In contrast with cognitive and functional measures, depressive symptoms were strongly associated with cardiac arrest survivors’ negative recovery perceptions at 6-months post-discharge.