Studies suggest that Latinos are 30% less likely to receive CPR in the case of an emergency than Whites due to a lack of knowledge on how to perform the procedure.
Researchers found that every year, about 300,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest, and most don’t survive. Of these victims, 80% collapse in their own homes. Dr. Comilla Sasson, from the University of Colorado in Denver, suggests that this statistic is high because people tend to panic and freeze when they encounter someone in cardiac arrest.
“Nothing that we do has as big an impact on survival as CPR, and it’s so cheap,” says Dr. Dana Edelson, an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Medical Center. She also noted that there are videos online that demonstrate how to perform CPR.
The American Heart Association says that socio-economic status, and not necessarily race, was the biggest determinant in CPR awareness.
In a study conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine, there is a 55% chance that a bystander will perform CPR on a cardiac arrest victim, a chance that decreases by 35% if they find themselves in a predominantly Latino neighborhood.
“Where you drop literally can determine your likelihood of having someone stop and do CPR, and it changes from one side of the street to another,” says Dr. Comilla Sasson.
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