Too many people in the UK are dying from cardiac arrest because not enough is done to encourage first aid, two heart specialists say today.
More than 12 young people die every week from the problem and 60,000 cardiac arrests occur annually outside hospital settings, according to a report in the BMJ.
The doctors say all schoolchildren should be taught cardio-pulmonary resuscitation – and that defibrillators should be installed in all public buildings.
They say that just one in 13 people in the UK feel confident to carry out emergency first aid – in spite of publicity campaigns.
The British Heart Foundation has promoted the use of the song "Stayin’ Alive" to get the timing of resuscitation correct.
Dr Aseem Malhotra, of the Royal Free Hospital, London, writes that the "chain of survival makes the difference between life and death."
He says that every minute’s delay in resuscitation cuts survival by 10%.
But resuscitation and effective defibrillation can mean a victim has a 50% chance of survival, he says.
Automatic external defibrillators have the "potential to save thousands of lives," he states.
BMJ 1 August 2013 [abstract]
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