Resuscitation
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Review Meta Analysis
Gender and Survival after Sudden Cardiac Arrest A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Conflicting results exist regarding the impact of gender on early survival after sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). We aimed to assess the association between female gender and early SCA survival. ⋯ This meta-analysis of observational studies demonstrates that women have increased odds of survival after SCA. Further studies are needed to address mechanisms explaining this discrepancy.
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Review
Evidence-based educational pathway for the integration of first aid training in school curricula.
"Calling for help, performing first aid and providing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)" is part of the educational goals in secondary schools in Belgium (Flanders). However, for teachers it is not always clear at what age children can be taught which aspects of first aid. In addition, it is not clear what constitutes "performing first aid" and we strongly advocate that the first aid curriculum is broader than CPR training alone. ⋯ An evidence-based educational pathway with educational goals concerning learning first aid for each age group was developed. This educational pathway can be used for the integration of first aid training in school curricula.
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Advanced age is reported to be associated with lower survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). We aimed to establish survival rate and neurological outcome at hospital discharge after OHCA in older patients and evaluated whether pre-OHCA comorbidity was associated with favorable neurologic outcome. ⋯ In the Netherlands, the survival rate in older patients was 12%; the great majority survived with favorable neurologic outcome. Resuscitation-related factors and not comorbidity determine outcome after OHCA in older patients.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Peer education for BLS-training in schools? Results of a randomized-controlled, noninferiority trial.
The rate of bystanders who provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is low in Germany. To increase the bystander CPR rates of lay-rescuers in Germany, the national "einlebenretten" ("save one life") campaign was initiated, and the introduction of CPR-training for all seventh-grade students was recommended. To meet the requirement of offering effective and low-cost mass-training to lay-rescuers, we adopted peer education for the basic life support (BLS) training of the students. ⋯ The students who were trained by peer-instructors showed comparable skills in BLS to the students who were trained by professional instructors. The sample size was too small to demonstrate the noninferiority of the peer-led training.
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Optimizing resuscitation efforts after cardiac arrest (CA) requires valid and reliable measurements of functional outcomes. The Cerebral Performance Category (CPC), the historical "gold" standard outcome measure post-CA, lacks psychometric validation. The purpose of this study was to establish the psychometric properties of a revised CPC: the CPC-Extended (CPC-E). ⋯ The CPC-E is a valid and clinically feasible outcome measure for describing post-CA impairment and disability status. In-person hospital administration of the CPC-E yields more complete data and good to excellent inter-rater reliability compared to retrospective EMR review.