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Review
. 2022 May 24;88(1):36.
doi: 10.5334/aogh.3624. eCollection 2022.

Globally, GDP Per Capita Correlates Strongly with Rates of Bystander CPR

Aditya Shekhar  1 , Jagat Narula  2
Affiliations
Review

Globally, GDP Per Capita Correlates Strongly with Rates of Bystander CPR

Aditya Shekhar et al. Ann Glob Health. .

Abstract

Introduction: Bystander CPR is vital in improving outcomes for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. There has been ample literature describing disparities in bystander CPR within specific countries, such as the United States, Australia, and the Netherlands. However, there has not been significant literature describing such disparities between countries.

Methods: We examined various studies published between 2000 and 2021 that reported rates of bystander CPR in various countries. These bystander CPR rates were correlated with the GDP per capita of that country during the time the study was conducted. The correlation between GDP per capita and rates of bystander CPR was assessed.

Results: A total of 29 studies in 35 communities across 25 countries were examined. Reported rates of bystander CPR ranged from 1.3% to 72%. From this, a strong and significant correlation between GDP per capita and rates of bystander CPR was apparent; 0.772 (p < .01), r2 = 0.596.

Conclusions: GDP per capita can be thought of as a composite endpoint that takes into account various aspects of a country's social and economic well-being. Socioeconomically-advantaged communities likely have a better ability to provide CPR education to community members, and our findings mirror localized analyses comparing socioeconomic status and rates of bystander CPR. Future studies should continue to elucidate transnational disparities in cardiac arrest, and efforts should be directed at providing CPR education to communities with low rates of bystander CPR; low-and-middle-income countries may represent attractive targets for such interventions. However, it may be possible that rates of bystander CPR may not improve unless significant upstream improvements to socioeconomic factors take place.

Keywords: Cardiac arrest; bystander CPR; development; disparities; global health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Figures

a graph showing the strong positive correlation between GDP per capita and rates of bystander CPR
Figure 1
Shows a summary of the 35 communities in 25 different countries examined by the 29 studies we reviewed. Visually, there is a perceptible association between GDP per capita and rates of bystander CPR. Quantitatively, a significant correlation was identified (0.772, p < .01).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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