Chest compressions as effective as CPR

LOS ANGELES - Chest compressions alone are as effective in rescuing victims of heart attacks as conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation that combines compressions with forced breathing, researchers said yesterday.

Studies in Washington state and Sweden confirm the growing idea that the breathing component of CPR is necessary only for children and those who have suffered drowning or who have respiratory problems.

Recent guidelines based on these and earlier studies may overcome some of the fears of bystanders who are reluctant to initiate CPR because of the danger of infectious diseases.

"These studies reinforce the message that the American Heart Association has been promoting since 2008," said Dr. Michael Sayre, a professor of emergency medicine at Ohio State University in Columbus and a spokesman for the heart association. "When you encounter a person who has collapsed suddenly, the best thing to do is to call 911 and then push hard and fast on their chest. It's simple, and something anyone can do even if they don't have any training."

The two new studies, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, were similar in design. In one, conducted by Dr. Thomas D. Rea of the University of Washington in Seattle and his colleagues, 1,941 heart attack victims were included. In the second, conducted by Dr. Marten Rosenqvist of the Karolinska Institutet of Stockholm, 1,276 victims were studied. In both cases, 911 operators randomly instructed callers to administer either conventional CPR or only chest compressions. In neither case were the differences statistically significant.

"Both types of CPR performed by a bystander are beneficial, and the benefit is well above not doing anything," Rea said.

- Los Angeles Times