New research published in JAMA shows early intubation of adults suffering from an in-hospital cardiac arrest is associated with a significantly lower likelihood of survival to hospital discharge.
Researchers examined 86,628 adults who had an in-hospital cardiac arrest. Half of those patients were intubated in the first 15 minutes, and the other half were not intubated in that time period, but may have been intubated later.
Survival was lower among patients who were intubated (57.8 percent) than those who were not (59.3 percent). Additionally, researchers found "intubation was not associated with improved outcomes in any subgroup."
Therefore, "these findings do not support early tracheal intubation for adult in-hospital cardiac arrest," the study concludes.