About 21% of cardiac arrest survivors report near-death experiences (NDEs). Higher levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in exhaled breath and arterial blood, as well as higher serum potassium, were linked to more frequent and intense NDEs. A logistic regression model accounting for 46% of the variance identified elevated CO₂ as an independent predictor of NDE occurrence; a linear regression model explained 34% of the variance in NDE scores, with higher CO₂, higher potassium, and prior NDEs as independent predictors. These associations had not been previously reported.
Among 126 patients with prolonged ICU stays, 15% reported a near-death experience (NDE) as measured by the Greyson scale. Mechanical ventilation, sedation, analgesia, reason for admission, primary organ dysfunction, and dissociative and spiritual propensities were associated with NDE in initial analyses, but only dissociative and spiritual propensity strongly predicted NDE in a multivariate model. At one-year follow-up with 61 patients, NDE was not significantly linked to quality of life. The findings suggest that cognitive and spiritual factors, rather than medical parameters, are the main predictors of NDE recall in the ICU.