New survey published in the British Medical Journal highlights some shocking statistics

Aseem Malhotra and Roby Rakhit, cardiologists from the Royal Free Hospital in London, recently published a survey on out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in the UK. The aim of the survey was to see how aware the general public were of cardiac arrest and how prepared they were to help in such a situation.

According to the results of the survey only 1 in 13 people felt confident enough to perform CPR and use an AED in an emergency.

The survey compared survival rates in the UK for cardiac arrest, of between 2% and 12%, with those in places like Seattle where it is as high as 56% due to the level of training citizens receive from an early age. 

Malhotra and Rakhit concluded that training and greater access to AEDs will help to improve survival rates from cardiac arrest in the UK and believe that emergency life support skills should be added to the school curriculum.

See full data from Zoll Medial UK