Naloxone for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Due to Opioid Toxicity

1

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) has a low survival rate, with approximately 10% of EMS-treated patients surviving to hospital discharge.
2

Opioids are frequently implicated in drug-related OHCAs, which account for about 10% of such cases in certain jurisdictions.
3

Evidence on the effectiveness of naloxone in treating cardiac arrest due to opioid overdose is limited and presents potential risks.
4

A cohort study found a 3.7 percentage point survival benefit for patients treated with naloxone compared to those who were not.
5

In the subgroup of patients treated with epinephrine, naloxone showed no survival advantage, suggesting its benefit may be limited to specific cases.

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