Cardiac Arrest in the Elderly: Epidemiology and Outcome

Chapter
Part of the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine book series (AUICEM)

Abstract

As a result of the combined effect of decreasing fertility and increasing life expectancy, the world’s population is ageing rapidly, and the process has accelerated in the last three decades. For the first time since the beginning of recorded history, elderly people are outnumbering young children [1]. By 2050, the numbers of people aged 60 years and over will have more than doubled, increasing from 901 million in 2015 to 2.1 billion [2]. The numbers of people aged 80 years and over will more than triple, increasing from 125 million in 2015 to 464 million in 2050. Although Europe has currently the highest percentage (24%) of people older than 60 years of age, the fastest growth in this age group is occurring in Asia, Africa and Latin America, so that relevant ageing will affect the whole world population in the next 30 years [2].

Consistently with a progressive ageing of the world population, the number of cardiac arrests in older people is expected to increase in the next decades. This will raise a series of social, ethical, and economic concerns. Given the inherent frailty of aged patients and the high rates of death or persistent disability associated with cardiac arrest, resuscitation of many aged patients may be seen as inappropriate. To assist with decisions on providing resuscitation in these patients, healthcare providers will need to predict as accurately as possible the likelihood of survival with an acceptable quality of life.

Keywords

Cardiac Arrest Cerebral Performance Category Target Temperature Management Good Neurological Outcome Pulseless Electrical Activity 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive CareCatholic University School of MedicineRomeItaly

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