CNN: Survival Rates Far Worse for Black Women After Bystander CPR, Study Finds

Survival rates for Black women are far worse after bystander CPR than for white men, according to a study published this month in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

The study highlights a troubling disparity in the effectiveness of bystander CPR for cardiac arrests that happen outside a hospital setting. While bystander CPR generally improves survival rates, its benefits are notably reduced for Black individuals and for women, according to the study.

Dr. Paul Chan, a cardiologist at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City and the lead author on the report, told CNN that the goal of the study isn’t to prove what is already known: Communities of color are less likely to receive CPR. Rather, the goal is to answer a two-fold question: Did CPR get started by a bystander, and does the patient have the same benefit, regardless of their sex or race or ethnicity?

“It’s not just getting people to start CPR but doing it as effectively and as well in all groups of people,” Chan told CNN.

Read the full CNN article: Survival Rates Far Worse for Black Women After Bystander CPR, Study Finds