Loading...
In 2010, the American Heart Association (AHA) suggested an increase in the target depth of chest compressions to at least 5 cm. However, there have been no large clinical trials to determine whether this depth is optimal. Investigators from the Resuscitations Outcomes Consortium analyzed prospectively gathered data from a randomized trial and a large registry to determine the association between compression depth (the accelerometer-measured posterior depression of the anterior chest wall) and survival to hospital discharge.
Of 9266 patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, 31% had return of spontaneous circulation and 7% survived to hospital discharge. In both men and women, survival increased with compression depth until it peaked at a …