Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has been proved to save lives; however, whether survival is affected by the training level of the bystander is not fully described.
To describe if the training level of laymen and medically educated bystanders affect 30-day survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA).
This observational study included all witnessed and treated cases of bystander CPR reported to the Swedish Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation between 2010-2014. Bystander CPR was divided into two categories: (a) lay-byCPR (non-medically educated) and (b) med-byCPR (off duty medically educated personnel).
During 2010-2014, 24,643 patients were reported to the OHCA registry, of which 6850 received lay-byCPR and 1444 med-byCPR; 16,349 crew-witnessed and non-witnessed cases and those with missing information were excluded from the analysis. The median interval from collapse to call for emergency medical services was 2min in both groups (p=0.97) and 2min from collapse to start of CPR for lay-byCPR versus 1min for med-byCPR (p<0.0001). There were no significant differences in CPR methods used; 64.3% (lay-byCPR) and 65.7% (med-byCPR) applied compressions and ventilation, respectively (p=0.33). The 30-day survival was 14.7% for lay-byCPR and 17.2% for the med-byCPR group (p=0.02). The odds ratio adjusted for potential confounders regarding survival (med-byCPR versus lay-byCPR) was 1.34 (95% confidence interval, 1.11-1.62; p=0.002).
In cases of OHCA, medically educated bystanders initiated CPR earlier and an increased 30-day survival was found compared with laymen bystanders. These results support the need to improve the education programme for laypeople.