Many of us learned to resuscitate a person who has collapsed using Annie, the manikin based on a death mask of a young woman who had drowned in the Seine in Paris in the 19th century. Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has become increasingly accepted and expected as the years have passed, and we have even begun to make affordable machines to deliver a life-saving shock (defibrillation) to the heart of a person who has collapsed with an otherwise life threatening heart rhythm disturbance.
We lack, though, much good information about how useful the procedure is in saving lives and bringing people back to meaningful existence.
A recent study completed in Denmark looked at the outcomes of bystander performed CPR and defibrillation. Denmark has been quite aggressive in training and encouraging citizens to perform CPR when a person collapses and is found to have no pulse. They have also been scrupulous about keeping records of what happened in each of these cases. Records spanning 2001-2012 show that having bystander CPR helps a person to survive with their brain intact, more than just waiting for an emergency medical technician to arrive with the ambulance.
What is most interesting, though, is the overall outcome of cardiac arrest. In the period of study, 8.3% of patients on whom resuscitation was attempted survived for 30 days. Of these, 10.3% had brain damage or were admitted to nursing homes. As bystander CPR became more common, the percentage of patients surviving cardiac arrest rose, and was over 12% by 2012. Also, compared to no bystander CPR, those who received bystander CPR were much less likely to end up in a nursing home. The group of survivors with the best outcome were those who were treated by bystanders with an automatic defibrillator; only 2% of those survivors had brain damage. Of the patients who survived for 30 days, 9.7% died in the subsequent year, most often of heart disease.
So, to recap, slightly more than 1 in 10 Danes who collapse and receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation survive over 30 days. Of those who survive, about 1 in 10 will have brain damage sufficient to require nursing home care. Since Danes have healthcare statistics pretty similar to Americans, this study may represent us pretty well. Getting cardiopulmonary resuscitation as soon as possible, in most cases this means by a bystander, probably gets the blood flowing to the brain sooner and helps prevent brain damage in survivors. Having a defibrillator available and using it is even better.
It is a powerful thing, being able to bring someone back from death. If we choose to engage in it, we should stay skilled, start right away after a person collapses, be aware of defibrillators in the places we frequent and plan to use them, and understand our limitations. For those of us who don't want the to receive vigorous resuscitation with a significant risk of failure or brain damage, displaying this preference, possibly with a medical alert bracelet or necklace, may be wise.
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