Study Suggests Women Less Likely to Get CPR From Bystanders
Women are less likely than men to get CPR from a bystander and more likely to die, a new study suggests, and researchers think reluctance to touch a woman's chest might be one reason.
Only 39 percent of women suffering cardiac arrest in a public place were given CPR versus 45 percent of men, and men were 23 percent more likely to survive, the study found. It involved nearly 20,000 cases around the country and is the first to examine gender differences in receiving heart help from the public versus professional responders.
"It can be kind of daunting thinking about pushing hard and fast on the center of a woman's chest" and some people may fear they are hurting her, said Audrey Blewer, a University of Pennsylvania researcher who led the study. Rescuers also may worry about moving a woman's clothing to get better access, or touching breasts to do CPR, but doing it properly "shouldn't entail that," said another study leader, U Penn's Dr. Benjamin Abella. "You put your hands on the sternum, which is the middle of the chest. In theory, you're touching in between the breasts."
The study was discussed Sunday at an American Heart Association conference in Anaheim.
Get touchy and save women's lives.
Also at Penn Medicine and the American Heart Association. Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Other study mentioned in the AP article: Sexual Activity as a Trigger for Sudden Cardiac Arrest (DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2017.09.025) (DX)
Related study: Sex-Based Disparities in Incidence, Treatment, and Outcomes of Cardiac Arrest in the United States, 2003-2012. (DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.116.003704) (DX)
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday November 15 2017, @06:11AM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 15 2017, @07:30AM
>AC
DW, getting corrected on the stupid shit I say without a public black mark is the whole reason I'm AC. I'm very glad my teenage self largely did that, and I assume by the time I'm thirty I'll be similarly relieved my 2- self did the same.
>why the heck did you think that deformation of the ribcage was difficult if the simple act of taking a breath can do it
I'd never considered it before today, but I suppose I assumed it moved incidentally to breathing but didn't deform.
>How can you be so ignorant of your own body?
I literally can't remember the last time I exerted or injured myself beyond a short bike ride or a small cut. I've never broken a bone or even seen (IRL) someone do so, and can't imagine I will any time soon. I discount media representations of injury, on the grounds that Hollywood seems to think head injuries are just cheap sleeping pills, and so can't judge by what I see online and in the media. Literature isn't a suitable source either, for the same reasons. I would guess I properly exerted myself when I last moved house, but with the aid of another I was unable to judge my flesh's work from their's. I do not know what I can lift and what I can't, because I never need to lift anything heavier than a single wooden chair alone. I do not know the relative force of a punch vs a push because I never punch anything, nor push beyond a somewhat stubborn door.
I was shocked at the extent of my ignorance here too for what it's worth.
tl;dr: In the year 5555
Your arms hangin' limp at your sides
Your legs got nothin' to do
Some machine's doin' that for you