Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands
The Lancet December 1, 2001 Pirn van Lommel, Ruud van Wees, Vincent Meyers et al. 679 citations
About 18% of cardiac arrest survivors report a near-death experience (NDE), and 12% describe a core experience. The occurrence of NDE was not linked to how long the heart stopped or the person was unconscious, nor to medication or fear of death beforehand. Factors that did affect NDE frequency included age, surviving a first heart attack, having multiple resuscitations, a prior NDE, and memory problems after prolonged CPR. Depth of the experience was influenced by sex, being resuscitated outside the hospital, and fear before cardiac arrest. Patients who had an NDE, especially a deep one, were significantly more likely to die within 30 days of CPR. The personal transformation after NDE took years and differed from survivors without NDE.