CPC 3 (‘severe cerebral disability: conscious and dependent on others for daily support because of impaired brain function’) was selleck chemicals equivalent to GOS 3 (‘severe disability: able to follow commands but unable to live independently’). CPC 4 and GOS 2 (both defined as ‘coma, vegetative state’) were mutually equivalent. CPC 5 and GOS 1 (both defined as ‘dead or brain dead’) were mutually equivalent.When a study to be reviewed did not involve evaluation of cerebral performance according to either CPC or GOS, one author (KS) assigned the grade that appeared most appropriate as judged from the description in the original article. The actual time point of assessment of cerebral performance as study endpoint, which varied from study to study, was used in the present review as it was in the original text.
In general, outcome after CA is defined dichotomously in the following three respects: dead or alive (survival); regained consciousness or remained comatose (consciousness); and return to independent daily life or not.To fit this dichotomous system of description, the neurological outcome graded in each study according to CPC, GOS, and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was further grouped for the present review as follows: ‘dead’: died in hospital; ‘alive’: survival at the endpoint defined in each study; ‘remained comatose’: CPC 4 or 5, GOS 1 or 2 (persistent coma, GCS score �� 7); ‘regained consciousness’: CPC 1 to 3, GOS 3 to 5 (obeying simple verbal commands, GCS score �� 8); ‘no return to independent daily life’: CPC 3 to 5, GOS 1 to 3; ‘return to independent daily life’: CPC 1 or 2, GOS 4 or 5.
Classification of sampling pointsThe various sampling time points in individual studies were classified into the following six categories for the sake of simplicity: (1) ‘on admission’: time points described as ‘on admission’, ‘day 0′, or ‘within 8 hours after CA’; (2) ‘day 1′: time points described as ‘day 1′ or ‘at or within 12 hours after CA’; (3) ’24 hours’: time points described as ‘at 24 hours �� 4 hours’; (4) ‘day 2′: time points described as ‘day 2′, ‘at 36 hours’, or ‘between 24 and 48 hours’; (5) ’48 hours’: time points described as ‘at 48 hours �� 4 hours’; (6) ‘day 3′: time points described as ‘day 3′ or ‘at 60 hours’.Statistical analysisResults of statistical comparison between two outcome groups are cited in the present study as reported in the original article, with P values presented after classification into the following three categories for simplicity: not significant (�� 0.
05); < 0.05; and < 0.01. The cut-off value for serum level of NSE or S-100B predictive of a poor outcome ('dead', 'remained comatose' or 'no return to independent daily life') was cited as being reported in each original article, together with the corresponding Carfilzomib values of sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy calculated using a 2 �� 2 contingency table. When the original article reported only raw data (i.e.