American Heart Association News: Black, Hispanic Adults Less Likely to Receive CPR, Especially in Public

Black or Hispanic adults who experience a witnessed cardiac arrest outside the hospital are substantially less likely than their white peers to receive lifesaving care from a bystander, preliminary new research shows.

CPR was least likely for Black and Hispanic adults in a less personal setting, such as on the street or in a public transportation center, according to findings presented Friday at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions in Reston, Virginia. Results improved at home or in public settings where people might know the person, such as the workplace, though such CPR still was more likely for white people in the study.

"We hypothesized that in a public setting, the rates of bystander CPR would increase and the treatment difference seen in the home setting would be smaller because there are more people available to provide CPR," said lead researcher Dr. R. Angel Garcia, a cardiology fellow at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute and the University of Missouri Kansas City. "Unfortunately, it went the opposite way. The disparity became larger."

Read the full American Heart Association News article: Black, Hispanic Adults Less Likely to Receive CPR, Especially in Public