Study Links Survival Rate Rise to Increased Bystander CPR
The study reported this month in JAMA involved patients in Denmark who suffered out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and for whom resuscitation was attempted between 2001 and 2010.
A national campaign in Denmark to teach the country's citizens to perform CPR yielded significant increases in both the rate at which bystanders performed CPR and in the survival rate of the patients, the authors of a study published this month in JAMA report. While there was a drop in the incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the study period, from 40.4 to 34.4 per 100,000 persons, the number of survivors per 100,000 increased significantly, reported Dr. Mads Wissenberg of the Department of Cardiology at Copenhagen University Hospital Gentofte in Hellerup, Denmark, and 16 colleagues from that facility as well as Prehospital Emergency Medical Services, Regions of Denmark: The Capital, Central Denmark, Zealand, Northern, and South Denmark; The Heart Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, in Copenhagen; and The Institute of Health, Science and Technology, Aalborg University in Aalborg, Denmark.
They found bystander CPR increased from 21.1 percent in 2001 to 44.9 percent in 2010, while the use of defibrillation by bystanders remained low (1.1 percent in 2001 to 2.2 percent in 2010). Patient survival on hospital arrival tripled, and 30-day survival improved from 3.5 percent in 2001 to 10.8 percent in 2010. The one-year survival rate also increased.
The study population was 19,468 patients.
OH&S is presenting a free, one-hour webinar on AEDs and CPR at 2 p.m. Eastern time Oct. 24. The presenter is John Ehinger, CEO of CardioReady, a suburban Philadelphia company that offers organizations turnkey preparedness and training solutions aimed at improving survival from sudden cardiac arrest. Visit this page to sign up for Ehinger's "Doing the Right Thing: Preparing for the Silent Workplace Catastrophe" webinar.