Diverging Trends in Treated In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest in Intensive Care Units and General Wards Using Location-Specific Patient-Days

Background/Objectives: Hospital-level incidence estimates may obscure differences between intensive care units (ICUs) and general wards. We compared temporal trends in treated adult in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) using location-specific patient-days.

Methods

This retrospective study covered January 2016 to June 2026 at a South Korean teaching hospital. Monthly treated IHCA counts were modeled using negative binomial regression with patient-days as an offset, a setting × time interaction, and adjustment for the COVID-19 period and seasonality. Calendar-month score-based HAC analyses assessed robustness to serial correlation. January–March 2022 was excluded because arrest location was unavailable.