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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 All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday November 15 2017, @05:23PM (2 children)
Here some answers for you. I am licensed, though not an absolute expert. I have performed CPR.
It is best if you get training. It's not horribly horribly expensive.
FIRST, activate the EMS system. Call 911 (or 999). With that done, you're trying things while waiting for the experts.
If you ever call 911 (which I know is 999 across the pond), the 911 center may try to talk you through doing it if you're willing, because without it the person WILL die. But being trained is much easier.
DO NOT FOLLOW THESE DIRECTIONS. But the operator will tell you: Your hands go center chest between the nipples horizontally and vertically, and lock your elbows so you're pushing straight and full force. (The movies ALWAYS do this wrong because they're really NOT compressing the chest, of course). PUSH HARD, PUSH FAST. 2 compressions per second. You WILL feel the ribcage "give" as the cartilage pops - it will crunch. That's OK. If you're doing it right, it is INCREDIBLY draining, very quickly.
Yes. You are pushing on the sternum hard enough to compress the heart so that blood continues to circulate to the tissues. Flow to the brain is most important, followed by other organs like the liver which need a constant oxygen supply. Rescue breathing is not necessary - if you're not trained it ain't easy to do and survival rates in public are higher without it.
GET AN AED if you possibly can. Turn it on and follow its directions - a 4th grader can use one.
I don't know. That's an interesting question. First, the ribs are actually connected to the spinal column and the sternum bones by cartilage. It is possible that the bones themselves break, but it is far more likely that the cartilage flexes (think a plastic tube that bends rather than breaks.) It sounds and feels like a break even if it's not. It is possible through incorrect hand placement to break the Xiphoid Process (the little tip at the bottom edge of the sternum - you can feel it on yourself.)
Either way, the defense is that it is better to have broken ribs than let a person die.
Ribs break with about 8 lbs. (PSI) of force applied directly. Which ain't much. But again above, you're usually really popping cartilage. If your patient survives, either way, these injuries will heal. Which is better than dead.
You don't slam. You keep contact with the body throughout the stroke, and you let the body recoil (push back) from each compression stroke. And again, cartilage connects them, which IS deisgned to give rather than break a bone, generally.
You stop. For a civilian, ANY sign that shows return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) is grounds to stop. If the patient starts a regular breathing pattern, STOP. ("STOP" is an EMS mnemonic - Starts breathing, Transfer care, Out of strength (as in exhausted and cannot physically continue due to muscular failure, not "I'm tired," or Physicians order are the four circumstances we stop CPR in.)
No, you KEEP GOING. They will still die if you don't.
The US standard is this: Did you do what a reasonable person would do in the same circumstances? Did you listen for breathing (5-10 seconds) and try to feel for a pulse (even if you don't know how, really.) If you start, did you do everything you knew to try? Did you know that, if you do nothing, the person is dead anyway?
I have zero trust as well. Sooner or later I'll probably be sued. Doesn't change the fact that I have seen someone die in front of me because I didn't know what to do, and I NEVER want to feel that way again. YMMV.
Yep. You have a third option. Think well enough about others to GET TRAINED.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday November 15 2017, @05:33PM (1 child)
Two other things I forgot to mention above. And again, THESE AREN'T INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOU TO DO. I'm not trained in how to give those. But, you are aiming for about 2 inches of compression on an adult - and that's a LOT and takes a LOT of force. And, do it with the patient's back on a SOLID SURFACE. Do NOT compress on a bed or mat - you need hard underneath to resist your compressions and not give. CPR on a bed is useless.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2017, @05:55AM
I intend to find out more because of this thread, and between you and isostatic I've changed my mind and would now attempt to help.