Online CPR Certification Blog

Chest compression alone leads to better survival

In a trial conducted in US that involved nearly 2000 patients, about 12.5% of them survived to being discharged from the hospital while 11% of them who received a combination of rescue breathing and chest compression were also discharged. According to a smaller study conducted in Sweden, 8.7% of those who received compression alone survived up to 30 days as did 7% of those who received conventional CPR. The survival rate of chest compression was much better in two main subgroups of those involved in the study in US; Patients having a cardiac arrest as well as those suffering from arrhythmias who were treated with defibrillation.
A consistent trend was seen towards achieving meaningful outcome differences with chest compression alone being favored in the key clinical subgroups. These results strengthen the lay person CPR, which puts more emphasis on chest compression while minimizing the role played by rescue breathing. When these studies were taken together, there was a straightforward conclusion that both the chest compression alone CPR and the one with ventilation have similar rates of survival. Considering that performing mouth to mouth breathing is a little more difficult not to mention that most people regard it as being distasteful, the willingness of bystanders to resuscitate a person with cardiac arrest can be improved considerably by continuously advocating for chest compression only CPR. This would go a long way towards improving the rate of survival among cardiac arrest victims.

The role of rescue breathing in CPR minimized

Early CPR initiation by a bystander can also boost the survival rate and go a long way towards improving neurologic recovery in the long term. Traditionally, CPR consisted of a combination of chest compressions and rescue breathing. However, there has been an increased interested in bystander CPR in recent years and more emphasis has been made on chest compression and eliminating or minimizing rescue breathing. The study suggests that laypersons might accept chest compressions more and chest compression only CPR might considerably help in increasing circulation and improving survival.
These two types of CPR performed by a stranger don’t show any significant differences when it comes to survival. But patients who received chest alone CPR recorded a higher survival rate compared to those who received a combination of chest compressions and breath rescue. While chest compression alone doesn’t necessarily lead to improved survival rate for the overall population, there has been an increased campaign for chest compression alone without rescue breathing. For those without any type of training, the one operating the 911 service can easily coach the bystander as to how to perform the chest compressions alone in a much easier way unlike doing the chest compressions and ventilation which can be a little bit more difficult.