Kevin J, et al. - Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study of two US hospitals to evaluate how the performance of a widely employed neurological outcome scale for quantifying arrest-attributable morbidity would be affected by incorporation of baseline neurological status. They used cerebral performance category (CPC), an ordinal five-point scale with one indicating sufficient cognition to lead an independent life and 5 representing brain death, for determining neurological function in 486 hospitalized adult patients who suffered in-hospital cardiac arrest for which cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Baseline abnormal neurological function (pre-hospitalization CPC > 1) was reported in 124 (25.5%). Including change-in-CPC into criteria for “good” neurological outcome after an arrest provides discordant results compared to traditional approaches that consider discharge CPC only and increases face validity of reporting arrest-related morbidity.