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Major Need for More CPR Training
in Minority Communities
Community organizations and churches found to be critical link in ‘chain of survival’
A study conducted by researchers at The University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston suggests that black men and women often are left out of programs that teach life-saving techniques such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillation training, even though recent reports show the highest rate of sudden cardiac deaths in black communities.
Jasenka Demirovic, M.D.
“Our study has found a major need for improving knowledge and intensifying CPR programs among older African-Americans,” said Jasenka Demirovic, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator of the study and associate professor of epidemiology at the UT School of Public Health. “Although there are many interventional studies designed to reduce incidence and mortality, there are far fewer studies that have measured health literacy or knowledge, attitudes and capability to act and solve problems relevant to out-of-hospital cardiac emergencies.”
Researchers conducted door-to-door surveys of 425 black men and women in Miami-Dade County, Fla., a community with a high population of middle-aged and elderly blacks.
The study, published in the July/August issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Cardiology, examined knowledge and attitudes about CPR and automated external defibrillation training.
Investigators found as many as 25 percent of older (ages 50-79) black participants in the study had never even heard of CPR. Many study participants were unaware of the automated external defibrillator – a small, lightweight device used to assess a person’s heart rhythm and, if necessary, administer an electric shock to restore a normal heart rate during sudden cardiac arrest.
The inquiry also found only 18 percent of men and 28 percent of women in the study had ever taken a CPR class. Most of the men were in their mid-thirties when they participated in CPR training, while women had been trained in their mid-forties. Only 30 percent of all of the participants knew whom to contact to get CPR training.
Half of the study participants suggested community organizations as the most effective means of teaching CPR and automated external defibrillator training, and 40 percent of those questioned suggested churches as the most effective training tool.
“Most of the CPR training programs in the United States are focused on younger people, although they are less likely to witness sudden cardiac arrest than middle-aged and elderly people,” Demirovic said.
She plans to explore knowledge and attitudes toward CPR and automated external defibrillation training in other ethnic groups in future research.
The American Heart Association funded the study.
— By Pamela Cathion, Public Affairs