The Impact of Cardiac and Respiratory Arrests on Inpatient Death, Length of Stay, and Hospital Expenditures in the United States

BACKGROUND: In the United States, more than 600 000 people suffer from cardiac arrests (CA), and more than 1 million people suffer from respiratory failure annually. Understanding the consequences of CA and respiratory arrests (RA) is vital for guiding healthcare policies and mitigating associated adverse outcomes. OBJECTIVE: In this study, our aim was to examine the relationship between CA and RA and inpatient death, length of stay, and inpatient expenditures. METHODS: A secondary analysis using data from the 2022 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (N = 6 525 137) was performed. The sample consisted of patients hospitalized in the United States in 2022 diagnosed with CA and/or RA. Descriptive statistics were performed on predictors and outcomes. Binary logistic regression examined the relationships between predictors and inpatient death. Generalized linear modeling examined the relationships between predictors and length of stay and inpatient expenditures. RESULTS: Patients who experienced CA and RA had 53 and 27 times higher odds of inpatient death, respectively (odds ratio: 54.281, P < .001; odds ratio: 28.629, P < .001), in addition to longer length of stay (incident rate ratio: 1.464, P < .001; incident rate ratio: 1.136, P < .001) and higher inpatient expenditures (exponentiated value of coefficient (exp(b)): 2.446, P < .001; exp(b): 1.573, P < .001), than those who did not experience CA and RA. CONCLUSIONS: There are significant clinical and economic burdens associated with CA and RA. Cardiac arrest and RA prevention, early recognition, and post-arrest care must improve in hospitals across the United States. Future research should focus on validating the findings of this study and exploring how palliative care can impact the observed outcomes.