Following ROSC, control group patients may receive stress dose steroid treatment if prescribed by the attending physician for indications such as septic shock or known adrenocortical insufficiency. This holds also for study group patients during the follow-up period. Any steroid prescription by attending physicians cancels any concomitant investigational interventions regarding steroid supplementation and results in patient exclusion, unless the prescribed corticosteroid regimen is in full concordance with the above-described, protocolized one.