Compress the Chest: Better CPR Improves Survival from Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

In 2005, the American Heart Association (AHA) released updated evidence-based guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency cardiovascular care, but does adherence to the revised protocol improve outcomes? Investigators compared rates of survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest among 606 adult patients treated before and 1021 treated after implementation of the 2005 AHA guidelines in a single large emergency medical services system.

Review of a convenience sample of 69 electronic electrocardiogram recordings showed significant improvement in CPR quality after guideline implementation, including improvements in mean chest-compression rate, proportion of time that patients received chest compressions, and median preshock and postshock pause times for compressions. Unadjusted rates of survival to hospital discharge were significantly higher after implementation of the guidelines than before (9.4% vs. 6.1%). Among patients with witnessed arrest whose initial rhythm was ventricular fibrillation on EMS arrival, survival rates improved significantly from 24% (19 of 78) before implementation to 30% (34 of 112) after. Multivariate regression analysis that adjusted for initial rhythm, sex, arrest location, and witnessed arrest showed 1.8 greater odds of survival in the postintervention period.