Increased Community Cardiac Arrest Deaths During the Covid-19 Pandemic Linked to Decreased Rates of Bystander CPR

A recent scientific analysis (Marijohn, E. 2020) showed that the rate of survival to hospital admission for victims of sudden cardiac arrest dropped from 22.8% Pre-Covid to 12.8% during a matched Covid-19 time-period.  One of the factors associated with this decreased survival was a drop in bystander CPR response from 63.9% pre-pandemic to 47.8% during the pandemic.  

This finding highlights the role of bystander CPR response in improving survival from sudden cardiac arrest. In response to this understanding, numerous approaches to increasing bystander, workplace, and first-responder response rates without sacrificing quality have evolved.  Removal of the need for bystanders to perform mouth to mouth breathing and simplification of response steps to those most likely to improve survival have been adopted.  Audio-visual feedback guidance for development of proper chest compression skills and familiarization with AED use have been incorporated. 

Digitalization leading to e-learning has increased the flexibility and decreased the cost of training.  OSHA compliant programs available through organizations such as the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross provide distance learning for all but instruction and testing of chest compression skills, which still require scheduled in-person or online coaching and evaluation. 

Use of a recently released smartphone app, Smart Certification, allows for entirely remote, online CPR training and testing in a flexible and cost-efficient manner while avoiding the risk of contagion prevalent during this pandemic period. More information about performing CPR during Covid-19 can be found here.

Source

Marijon, E., Karam, N., Jost, D., Perrot, D., Frattini, B., Derkenne, C., Sharifzadehgan, A., Waldmann, V., Beganton, F., Narayanan, K., Lafont, A., Bougouin, W., & Jouven, X. (2020). Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the COVID-19 pandemic in Paris, France: a population-based, observational study. The Lancet. Public health, 5(8), e437–e443. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30117-1