Are patients who are found deeply unconscious, without having suffered a cardiac arrest, always breathing normally?Show others and affiliations
2008 (English)In: Resuscitation, ISSN 0300-9572, E-ISSN 1873-1570, Vol. 78, no 2, p. 116-118Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
AIM: To evaluate how often an ambulance crew reports abnormal breathing among patients who are found deeply unconscious but without having suffered a cardiac arrest. METHODS: Patients with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) 3 (1+1+1) and without cardiac arrest were retrospectively evaluated, via ambulance records, for signs of abnormal breathing. RESULTS: Of 45 patients who fulfilled inclusion criteria, 24 (53%) had signs of abnormal breathing, as reported by the ambulance crew. CONCLUSION: Signs of abnormal breathing among comatose patients with no cardiac arrest appear to be relatively common. This therefore increases the risk of starting cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in such patients, which is in accordance with the present CPR guidelines for the lay person. Whether this might do harm to such patients is not known.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier Ireland Ltd. , 2008. Vol. 78, no 2, p. 116-118
Keywords [en]
ormal breathing, cardiac arrest, unconsciousness
National Category
Medical and Health Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-3236DOI: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2008.02.027Local ID: 2320/9772OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hb-3236DiVA, id: diva2:871333
2015-11-132015-11-132017-11-16Bibliographically approved