Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 May 31:12:164.
doi: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_1385_22. eCollection 2023.

The dramatic increase in sudden cardiac deaths and the alarming low survival: A global call to action to improve outcome with the engagement of tertiary education system

Vincenzo Fodale  1   2 , Filippo F Angileri  1   3 , Pietro Antonuccio  1   4 , Giorgio Basile  1   5 , Filippo Benedetto  1   5 , Danilo Leonetti  1   5 , Antonio Micari  1   5 , Michele F Fodale  6
Affiliations
Review

The dramatic increase in sudden cardiac deaths and the alarming low survival: A global call to action to improve outcome with the engagement of tertiary education system

Vincenzo Fodale et al. J Educ Health Promot. .

Abstract

The number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, cause of disability and death, has dramatically increased worldwide, but despite the progress, the incidence of survival does not appear to have increased significantly. Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) remains the principal factor in saving out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims. Analyzing the immense efforts produced by states and professional organizations to train people in CPR skills for immediate intervention in the occurrence of a cardiac arrest, the primary global strategy is centered on CPR education and training for schoolchildren. But the rate of CPR training remains low, with wide differences among communities. The concept of CPR training for schoolchildren to increase bystander CPR rates needs to be implemented. We suggest a global call to action for the tertiary education system for CPR learning and training, including all undergraduate students regardless of the degree course, as a possible method to improve the traditional CPR training today centered on the secondary education system. Extending CPR training courses to the university educational system could significantly increase the number of people educated in life-saving maneuvers. The final objective is to improve the survival rate of patients with out-of-hospital primary cardiac arrest, which has dramatically increased worldwide.

Keywords: Cardiac arrest; cardiopulmonary resuscitation; education; university.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Murphy TW, Snipes G, Chowdhury MAB, McCall-Wright P, Aleong E, Taylor N, et al. Review of novel therapeutics in cardiac arrest (ReNTICA): Systematic review protocol. BMJ Open. 2022;12:e053304. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhan L, Yang LJ, Huang Y, He Q, Liu GJ. Continuous chest compression versus interrupted chest compression for cardiopulmonary resuscitation of non-asphyxial out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017;3:CD010134. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kiguchi T, Okubo M, Nishiyama C, Maconochie I, Ong MEH, Kern KB, et al. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest across the world: First report from the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) Resuscitation. 2020;152:39–49. - PubMed
    1. The Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) Report. 2020. [Last accessed on 2022 Aug 31]. p. 2021. Available from: https://mycares.net/sitepages/uploads/2021/2020_flipbook/index.html?page=22.
    1. Danish Heart Stop Register 2020. 2021. [Last accessed on 2022 Aug 31]. Available from: https://hjertestopregister.dk/?page_id=428.