Research Highlights:
Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024
DALLAS, Nov. 11, 2024 — Women were less likely than men to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in public, however, this disparity improved when 911 telecommunicators provided lifesaving instructions to callers seeking help for someone having a cardiac arrest, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Resuscitation Science Symposium 2024 . The meeting will be held Nov. 16-17, 2024, at the Hilton Chicago Hotel in Chicago and will feature the most recent advances related to treating cardiopulmonary arrest and life-threatening traumatic injury.
Cardiac arrest , which occurs when the heart malfunctions and abruptly stops beating, is often fatal without quick medical attention such as CPR to increase blood flow to the heart and brain. More than 357,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen each year in the U.S. with a 9.3% survival rate. [1]
In this study, researchers identified nearly 2,400 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases from the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) from 2022 to 2023. They examined differences between women and men receiving bystander CPR and time measures, including time to recognize the need for CPR and time to first compression.
The study found:
“CPR can double an individual’s chance of survival,” said Audrey Blewer, Ph.D., M.P.H., the study’s lead author and an assistant professor in the departments of family medicine and community health and population health sciences in the Schools of Medicine and the School of Nursing at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. “The findings from our research are consistent with similar results from a study conducted in Korea. Previous research has shown that hesitance may be a reason women are less likely than men to receive CPR in public. Some of the concerns identified were concerns about touching a woman’s chest during the lifesaving technique or fear the action could be perceived as assault.”
Blewer noted their most recent findings help support the idea that there is a need for more advocacy to support community emergency response, and the role of the telecommunicator is critical and could be instrumental in reducing known sex disparities. This study highlights the importance of the first link in the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest chain of survival — activation of the emergency response system.
The analysis also found:
“Everyone who experiences a cardiac arrest should have an equal opportunity to receive CPR,” Blewer said. “We are doing everything we can to research ways to address this known inequity affecting women. We hope that our research will help close this gap in the future. Most importantly, our findings prove if anyone encounters a person in cardiac arrest, it is important that they call 911 immediately and push hard and fast on the center of the person’s chest.”
“Taking action will help raise awareness, increase bystander CPR and improve survival from cardiac arrest,” she said.
A limitation of the study is that it is a secondary analysis of a larger, ongoing clinical trial, which minimized its sample size. There is a limit in generalizability because the data is from North Carolina, findings may be different for people living in other states.
Study details and background:
Co-authors, disclosures and funding sources are listed in the manuscript.
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[1] 2024 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics: A Report of US and Global Data From the American Heart Association | Circulation (ahajournals.org)