Hypothermia can induce an initial tachycardia, followed
by bradycardia, whereby a rate of 40–45 beats per minute
(bpm) is considered ideal in this situation
According to
Staer-Jensen et al (2014), bradycardia during therapeutic
hypothermia is associated with good neurological outcome. A retrospective cohort study of 111 out-of-hospital
cardiac arrest patients between 2009 and 2011 found that
bradycardia during therapeutic hypothermia was associated with good neurological outcome at hospital discharge
(Staer-Jensen et al, 2014).