CPR revisited : the current scenario in Malta

Abstract

Back in 2016, an editorial in the MMJ presented an overview of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in Europe, and highlighted that approximately one person suffers a cardiac arrest every 45 seconds, totalling 2-3,000 per day and 350,000 per annum. The editorial confirmed that, in the majority of cases, cardiac arrest was fatal and <10% of victims of ‘out-of-hospital’ arrest survive to discharge from hospital. Indeed, heart disease is the leading cause of death and tops 3.3 million per annum in developed countries, with 50% of these patients suffering a sudden cardiac arrest. Most succumb at this stage but survival is often associated with significant neurological disability and an inferior quality of life compared with the pre-arrest state. Prompt and effective CPR, especially if associated with timely defibrillation in adults, delivered within 1-2 minutes of a cardiac arrest, may improve the chances of survival 3-4 fold. However, the ‘time to intervention’ is paramount and survival decreases by 10% for every minute delay in the initiation of CPR. Conversely, prompt initiation of effective bystander CPR will more than triple survival.