Effects of head-up CPR on survival and neurological outcomes: A systematic review.

Background: The impact on survival and neurological outcomes of head-up cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) remains unclear. This systematic review aimed to examine whether head-up CPR or head-up CPR bundle affects survival and neurological outcomes. Methods: In this review registered in PROSPERO (CRD42024541714), we searched Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, Emcare and Cochrane library from inception to February 12, 2025. The inclusion criteria were studies: in adults and children in any setting (in-hospital or out-of-hospital) with cardiac arrest, comparing head-up CPR or head-up CPR bundle with standard or compression-only CPR in supine position, and randomized controlled trials (RCT) and observational studies. We excluded non-human studies and used Cochrane's Risk of Bias-2 and ROBINS-I tools for risk of bias assessment, and GRADE for outcome assessment. We conducted a narrative synthesis of the findings. Results: We identified four observational studies with 10,099 participants and no RCTs. All outcomes were judged to be very-low certainty of evidence, subject to high-risk of bias. Two pre- and post-intervention studies showed no statistically significant difference in survival with a good neurological outcome. The other two studies, which analyzed overlapping cohorts comparing the head-up CPR bundle with conventional CPR, showed mixed results-one found no statistically significant difference in survival to hospital discharge with favorable neurological status, while the other, focusing on patients with nonshockable rhythms, found that the head-up CPR bundle was associated with increased survival with favorable neurological function. Conclusions: The available evidence remains limited, highlighted by the absence of RCTs or observational studies with adequate comparisons.