Gender and age-specific aspects of awareness and knowledge in basic life support

Abstract

BackgroundThe ‘chain of survival’—including early call for help, early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and early defibrillation—represents the most beneficial approach for favourable patient outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Despite increasing numbers of publicly accessible automated external defibrillators (AED) and interventions to increase public awareness for basic life support (BLS), the number of their use in real-life emergency situations remains low.MethodsIn this prospective population-based cross-sectional study, a total of 501 registered inhabitants of Vienna (Austria) were randomly approached via telephone calls between 08/2014 and 09/2014 and invited to answer a standardized questionnaire in order to identify public knowledge and awareness of BLS and AED-use.ResultsWe found that more than 52 percent of participants would presume OHCA correctly and would properly initiate BLS attempts. Of alarming importance, only 33 percent reported that they would be willing to perform CPR and 50 percent would use an AED device. There was a significantly lower willingness to initiate BLS attempts (male: 40% vs. female: 25%; OR: 2.03 [95%CI: 1.39–2.98]; p<0.001) and to use an AED device (male: 58% vs. female: 44%; OR: 1.76 [95%CI: 1.26–2.53]; p = 0.002) in questioned female individuals compared to their male counterparts. Interestingly, we observed a strongly decreasing level of knowledge and willingness for BLS attempts (-14%; OR: 0.72 [95%CI: 0.57–0.92]; p = 0.027) and AED-use (-19%; OR: 0.68 [95%CI: 0.54–0.85]; p = 0.001) with increasing age.ConclusionWe found an overall poor knowledge and awareness concerning BLS and the use of AEDs among the Viennese population. Both female and elderly participants reported the lowest willingness to perform BLS and use an AED in case of OHCA. Specially tailored programs to increase awareness and willingness among both the female and elderly community need to be considered for future educational interventions.

Public Perceptions on Why Women Receive Less Bystander Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Than Men in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

“…With respect to the sex of rescuers, researchers in Austria found that women were less willing to provide bystander CPR or to apply an automated external defibrillator to a person who had collapsed from cardiac arrest. 21 We propose that a potential factor that might mitigate some of this disparity is to encourage, empower and educate more women to provide bystander CPR.…”

Attitudes and willingness toward out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a questionnaire study among the public trained online in China

“…This highlights an ongoing need for CPR refresher training. 17 18 People in non-medical-related occupations attach less importance to CPR, which could be attributable to the fact that CPR training is not recommended as a compulsory curriculum, except in medical schools in China. Moreover, previous training experience does help improve their attitudes.…”

Medical Correctness and User Friendliness of Available Apps for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: Systematic Search Combined With Guideline Adherence and Usability Evaluation

“…However, even in the most advanced emergency systems, the emergency personnel needs a medium time of 5-8 min to arrive at the emergency site [ 2 ]. Therefore, it is crucial that a bystander—that is, a person noticing the cardiac arrest—starts CPR [ 3 , 4 ]. In the majority of cases, the bystander will be a medical layperson [ 5 ].…”