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Cardiac arrest

Community CPR training only helps public arrests

Evaluating the effect of a regional training initiative on bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation rates after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
Resuscitation · Added 3 September 2026

Difference-in-differences evaluation of a year-long community hands-only CPR training initiative across 20,414 OHCAs — overall bystander CPR rates rose from 37.4% to 42.5% but the adjusted intervention effect wasn't significant (+2.94 pp, 95% CI −0.95 to 6.83); only public-location arrests showed a significant increase (+8.59 pp), with no effect at home and no detectable survival or neurological benefit.

Study type

Registry

Design

Difference-in-differences registry evaluation (CARES, 2022–2024)

Participants

20,414 OHCA patients (15,417 intervention region)

Main finding

Overall bystander CPR rose 37.4% to 42.5% but adjusted intervention effect not significant (+2.94 pp, 95% CI −0.95 to 6.83); public-location arrests +8.59 pp (95% CI 0.22–16.96); no significant effect at home or on survival or neurologically intact survival

Caveat

Non-randomised county comparison; possible secular trends and contamination

Bottom line

Hypothesis-generating

Learning goal

Understand how community CPR training influences bystander CPR rates across arrest locations and why gains favour public arrests.

More

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

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