Cardiac arrest e?ectiveness trials have traditionally reported outcomes that focus on survival. A lack of con-
sistency in outcome reporting between trials limits the opportunities to pool results for meta-analysis. The
COSCA initiative (Core Outcome Set for Cardiac Arrest), a partnership between patients, their partners, clin-
icians, research scientists, and the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation, sought to develop a con-
sensus core outcome set for cardiac arrest for e?ectiveness trials. Core outcome sets are primarily intended for
large, randomised clinical e?ectiveness trials (sometimes referred to as pragmatic trials or phase III/IV trials)
rather than for pilot or e?cacy studies. A systematic review of the literature combined with qualitative inter-
views among cardiac arrest survivors was used to generate a list of potential outcome domains. This list was
prioritised through a Delphi process, which involved clinicians, patients, and their relatives/partners. An in-
ternational advisory panel narrowed these down to 3 core domains by debate that led to consensus. The writing
group re?ned recommendations for when these outcomes should be measured and further characterised relevant
measurement tools. Consensus emerged that a core outcome set for reporting on e?ectiveness studies of cardiac
arrest (COSCA) in adults should include survival, neurological function, and health-related quality of life. This
should be reported as survival status and modi?ed Rankin scale score at hospital discharge, at 30 days, or both.
Health-related quality of life should be measured with =1 tools from Health Utilities Index version 3, Short-
Form 36-Item Health Survey, and EuroQol 5D-5L at 90 days and at periodic intervals up to 1 year after cardiac
arrest, if resources allow.
Kirstie Haywood, Laura Whitehead, Vinay M. Nadkarni, Felix Achana, Stefanie Beesems, Bernd W. Böttiger, Anne Brooks, Maaret Castrén, Marcus E.H. Ong, Mary Fran Hazinski, Rudolph W. Koster, Gisela Lilja, John Long, Koenraad G. Monsieurs, Peter T. Morley,
Laurie Morrison, Graham Nichol, Valentino Oriolo, Gustavo Saposnik, Michael Smyth,Ken Spearpoint, Barry Williams, Gavin D. Perkins, On behalf of the COSCA Collaborators
Disease Category: Heart & circulation
Disease Name: Cardiac arrest
Age Range: 18 - 100
Sex: Either
Nature of Intervention: Procedure
- Clinical experts
- Consumers (caregivers)
- Consumers (patients)
- Researchers
- COS for clinical trials or clinical research
- Recommendations for outcome measures (measurement/how)
- Consensus meeting
- Delphi process
- Interview
- Systematic review