Research released by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) shows that thousands of people die every year because people are not carrying out life saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on cardiac arrest victims before emergency services arrive.

The study, published in Resuscitation, analysed more than 11,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) attended by the emergency services and found that in 13 percent of cases the patient could not be saved as levels of bystander CPR were very low. The study is released to coincide with the UK marking the European Restart Heart Day by holding the largest CPR training event of its kind, organised by the Resuscitation Council (UK), BHF, St John Ambulance, British Red Cross, Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS), and the UK NHS ambulance services and fire & rescue services across the country.

The analysis by researchers from the University of Warwick shows that it is was late to save one-in-eight cardiac arrest patients as rates of bystander CPR were very low. The BHF estimates that this leads to around 10,000 deaths every year across the UK. CPR performed by bystanders who witness the cardiac arrest is one factor that can improve changes of survival.

Professor Gavin Perkins, from the University of Warwick who led the research, said: “The community response to cardiac arrest is a critical step in the chain of survival. Performing immediate CPR when someone suffers a cardiac arrest can in some cases double the chance of survival.”

The BHF supplies free Call Push Rescue training kits to secondary schools and community groups across the UK to help people learn life saving CPR - see  http://www.bhf.org.uk/cpr

Source: University of Warwick
Image credit: European Restart a Heart Day

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CPR, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, training, cardiac arrest, bystander CPR Research released by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) shows that thousands of people die every year because people are not carrying out life saving CPR on cardiac arrest victims before emergency services arrive. The study is released to coincide with th