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Why Is it Important to Learn CPR?

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, keeps a person's blood and oxygen pumping to the brain and heart until help can arrive in an emergency. About 80 percent of all cardiac arrests happen somewhere other than in a hospital. Learning this lifesaving technique improves a victim's chance of survival.

  1. Significance

    • Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Men suffer cardiac arrest twice as often as women. Victims are generally males in their early 60s or females in their late 60s. Unless these victims receive CPR in the first few minutes after an attack, 95 percent will die before they reach a hospital.

    Benefits

    • In 90 percent of cases, the person in need of CPR will be a friend or family member. The procedure can be performed on adults, children, infants and even on animals such as dogs and cats.

    Warning

    • If no one performs lifesaving measures on a victim, brain death will begin about 4 to 6 minutes after breathing ceases and oxygen stops circulating.

    Time Frame

    • CPR done immediately and effectively can double the victim's chance of survival. Without CPR, every minute that passes until a person can receive defibrillation lowers that chance 7 percent to 10 percent.

    Considerations

    • A victim has a 40 percent chance of survival if she receives CPR within 4 minutes after a collapse, and defibrillation within 10. If CPR isn't started until after 4 minutes, the rate of survival drops to 10 percent.

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