The impact of statin therapy on survival for inhospital cardiac arrest

We read with great interest the paper published by Hung et al describing the favorable impact of preceding statin therapy on survival following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).1 Cardiac arrest remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality, despite improvement in resuscitation efforts. Statins have been shown to decrease the incidence of sudden cardiac death in ischemic heart disease.2–4 We performed a retrospective study to examine the impact of statin pretreatment on in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) survival. This is a retrospective study conducted under the auspices of the Human Investigation Committee of the Research Institute of William Beaumont Hospital. All patients who suffered an IHCA and underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at Beaumont hospital from April 2012 to December 2013 were included in the study. Exclusion criteria were for CPR in the setting of trauma, postoperatively, during pregnancy and postpartum. Out-of-the hospital cardiac arrest, patients who underwent hospice or palliative care approach were also excluded and patients with …