DO BLACKS GET BYSTANDER CARDIOPULMONARY-RESUSCITATION AS OFTEN AS WHITES

Study objective: To determine whether there is an association between the race of a victim of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and the provisi on of bystander-initiated CPR. Design: Record review of 1,068 consecut ive cases of nontraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Setting: Mem phis, Tennessee, a city of more than 600,000 with roughly equal number s of white and black residents. Participants: Every adult who was seen by municipal emergency medical services personnel for nontraumatic ca rdiac arrest between March 1, 1989, and June 5, 1992. Intervention: No ne. Results: Although black and white cardiac arrest victims were simi lar in many respects, black victims received bystander CPR substantial ly less frequently than whites (9.8% versus 21.4%; odds ratio, 0.46; 9 5% confidence interval, 0.34 to 0.61). This difference was slightly mo re pronounced when the victim collapsed in a public place. In addition to race of the victim, location of the arrest outside the home and ha ving the arrest witnessed were independent determinants of whether a v ictim was given bystander CPR. Multiple logistic regression analysis s howed that the effect of race was independent of the other variables s tudied. Conclusion: Black victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest re ceive bystander CPR less frequently than white victims. Targeted train ing programs may be needed to improve the rates of bystander CPR among certain groups.