Women are 28% less likely to undergo cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in public than men, likely due to fear that strangers will hurt or touch them, according to a Montreal study.
“We don’t know why that is. “It could be that people are afraid of hurting themselves or touching a woman, or that they think that a woman is less likely to suffer a cardiac arrest,” said study co-author Alexis Cournoyer, of the Sacré Cœur Hospital in Montreal told The Telegraph on Monday.
According to the study, which examined more than 39,000 non-hospital cardiac arrests in Canada and the United States between 2005 and 2015, nearly a quarter (23%) occurred in a public place.
But only in 54% of cases did the victim receive the necessary resuscitation maneuver with mouth-to-mouth and chest compressions from a bystander while waiting for emergency medical services. And in 29% of cases, the victim of cardiac arrest was a woman, according to British media.
The problem is that the study showed that a woman who suffers a cardiac arrest in public is 28% less likely than a man to receive first aid while waiting for the emergency room.
In a private household, older people are less likely to receive first aid, the study continues.
“We conducted this study to identify the factors that might prevent someone from performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, including those that might discourage a woman from performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation. […] to ensure everyone who needs it receives it, regardless of gender, age or location,” explained Dr. Sylvie Cossette from the Montreal Heart Institute Research Centre.
The research team also called on the public to learn the maneuver in order to be “ready to perform it without hesitation,” since cardiac arrest can occur “anywhere and at any time,” again added Youri Yordanov from the emergency room at Saint Antoine Hospital in France.