Target temperature management versus normothermia without temperature feedback systems for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors

OBJECTIVE: The clinical benefit of automatic temperature control devices remains unclear. We investigated the outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survivors who had undergone either target temperature management (TTM) with a temperature feedback system (TFS) or maintenance of normothermia without a TFS during post-resuscitation care. METHODS: This study was a retrospective analysis of a multicenter prospective cohort of OHCA survivors who had received postcardiac arrest care from August 2014 to December 2018. The overlap propensity score weighting method was applied for adjustment between groups. RESULTS: A total of 405 OHCA survivors were included. TTM with a TFS and normothermia without a TFS were applied to 318 and 87 patients, respectively. Fever events were more common in patients with normothermia without a TFS. After propensity score matching, no statistically significant differences were observed in the 1-month good neurologic outcome (odds ratio 0.99, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.56–1.25) or survival rate (odds ratio 1.25, 95% CI 0.88–1.78). CONCLUSION: No significant differences in the 1-month neurologic outcome were observed between patients receiving TTM with a TFS and those undergoing normothermia without a TFS.