Chest compressions alone can be just as beneficial as CPR to an adult suffering from cardiac arrest, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada said today.
The Foundation's statement agreed with the American Heart Association's report endorsing hands-only CPR that was published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
The position of the two organizations comes after three separate studies published in 2007 found that the absence of rescue breathing did not negatively impact survival rates of cardiac arrest patients when conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed by a bystander.
"The data that's out there is not enough to say that chest-compression-only CPR is better than conventional CPR," said Dr. Allan de Caen, chair of the Heart and Stroke Foundation's Policy Advisory Committee on Resuscitation.
"If you know how to do conventional CPR then do conventional CPR, because that is still the gold standard. But if you don't know how to do CPR, or for whatever reason you don't want to or cannot give rescue breathing, then at least do chest-compression-only CPR."
Chest compressions alone should only be done by someone who has witnessed a cardiac arrest patient collapse. Adults who collapse with cardiac arrest usually do so with lungs full of oxygen, and pressing on the chest will allow that oxygen to circulate through the bloodstream, said de Caen.
However, full CPR should still be performed on children, who often suffer cardiac arrest because they haven't been breathing properly and therefore don't have lungs full of oxygen. Similarly, an adult who suffers cardiac arrest due to respiratory problems will not benefit from chest compressions.
"For the person who has a witness to their collapse, who drops with lungs that are full of oxygen, and someone can press on their chest right off the bat, that's the patient that is going to benefit the most from chest-compression-only CPR," said de Caen.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation recommends that bystanders call 911 before starting compressions, and not worry about technique. As well, compressions shouldn't stop until paramedics arrive.
"The message we're trying to get across is choose the middle of the chest and press: press hard and press fast," said de Caen.
De Caen added that most people don't perform CPR because they are afraid of hurting the patient, who is often a friend or family member.
"It's actually pretty uncommon to cause injury with CPR," said de Caen. "And the greater risk is what happens if you don't do anything?"
According to the Foundation, more than 80 per cent of cardiac arrests happen in the home or in public places, but less than five per cent of those patients survive. Most of them don't receive CPR, even if someone has witnessed the incident, because the witness freezes, doesn't know CPR, or is afraid to hurt the patient.
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