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Cardiac arrest

Bystander rescue breathing no benefit in suffocation OHCA

Association of rescue breathing with outcomes in adult suffocation-related cardiac arrest
Resuscitation · Added 3 August 2026

This retrospective cohort of 76,774 Japanese patients with witnessed suffocation-related OHCA found no bystander CPR was associated with higher favourable neurological outcomes compared with compression-only CPR (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.04-1.38), while CCV-CPR showed no significant difference versus compression-only.

Study type

Cohort

Design

Retrospective nationwide registry cohort with IPTW adjustment

Participants

76,774 adults with witnessed suffocation-related OHCA

Main finding

No bystander CPR associated with better 1-month favourable neurological outcome than compression-only CPR (adjusted OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.04-1.38); CCV-CPR no significant difference (OR 1.01, 95% CI 0.78-1.32)

Caveat

Retrospective registry data with possible residual confounding; Japanese setting with different bystander CPR practices

Bottom line

Hypothesis-generating

Learning goal

Weigh the role of rescue breathing in bystander CPR guidance for suffocation-related cardiac arrest.

More

• Topic: Cardiac arrest
• Daily scan: 3 August 2026

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